Emily Dickinson Lexicon

FLIT, v.i. [D. vlieden, to fly or flee; Dan. flyder, Sw. flyta, to flow, to glide away; Dan. flytter, Sw. flyttia, to remove; Ice. fliutur, swift. This word coincides in elements with Heb. Ch. Syr. פלט Class Ld, No. 43. It is undoubtedly from the same root as fleet, – which see.]

1. To fly away with a rapid motion; to dart along; to move with celerity through the air. We say, a bird flits away, or flits in air; a cloud flits along.
2. To flutter; to rove on the wing. – Dryden.
3. To remove; to migrate; to pass rapidly, as a light substance, from one place to another. It became a received opinion, that the souls of men, departing this life, did flit out of one body into some other. – Hooker.
4. In Scotland, to remove from one habitation to another.
5. To be unstable; to be easily or often moved. And the free soul to flitting air resign'd. – Dryden.