Full record for flitter n.

Definition A small personal aircraft
OED requirements antedating 1941
Earliest cite Edward E. Smith,'The Vortex Blaster'
Comment Mike Christie submitted a cite from a 1984 reprint of Andre Norton's "Star Born". Stuart Young submitted a cite from a 1981 reprint of Frank Herbert's "The Godmakers. Patrick Dusoulier submitted a 1957 cite from Jack Vance's "The Languages of Pao". James Birdsall submitted a cite from a 1964 reprint of Andre Norton's 1956 "The Plague Ships". Ethan Merritt submitted a cite from a reprint of Andre Norton's 1955 "Sargasso of Space"; Mike Christie verified it in a 1957 edition. Enoch Forrester submitted a 1944 cite from George O. Smith's "Circle of Confusion". Fred Galvin submitted a 1941 cite from Edward E.'Doc' Smith's "The Vortex Blaster".

Dr. M. Lohr submitted a cite from a 1996 reprint of Stephen Baxter's "Ring". Katrina Campbell submitted a 1982 cite from Anne McCaffrey's "Crystal Singer".
Last modified 6 July, 2008

Citations for flitter n.

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1768 South End Forever [1/1] 1. Huzza! brave Boys, behold the Pope, Pretender and Old-Nick; How they together lay their Heads, To plot a poison Trick? To blow up KING and PARLIAMENT To Flitters, rent and torn.
1955 ‘A. North’ Sargasso of Space (1957) 53 The small flitters carried by the Queen for exploration work held with comfort a two-man crew—with crowding, three.
1957 J. Vance in Satellite Sci. Fiction Dec. 10/2 You delivered sixty-four barrage monitors, five hundred and twelve patrol flitters, a large number of multiple resonators, energetics, wasps and hand-weapons. These accord with the original order.
1982 A. McCaffrey Crystal Singer 91 The cost of the flitter craft used by Crystal Singers in the ranges was staggering; the sonic cutting gear that had to be tuned to the user was also expensive and a variety of other items whose purpose was not yet known to her were basic Singer's tools.
1984 R. Silverberg Waiting for Earthquake in R. Silverberg Conglomeroid Cocktail Party (1984) 204 At the landing strip where commuters from Enrique and Pellucidar once had parked their flitters after flying in for the weekend, he checked out his own, an ‘83 model with sharply raked lines and a sophisticated moire-pattern skin, now somewhat pitted and rusted by neglect.
1990 R. L. Forward Rocheworld 279 But it still was smarter than the hunters and flitters, who had their own sounds.
1993 P. Anderson Harvest of Stars (1994) 40 The view from the roof bore comparison with what he saw from his flitter before he landed ‥
1994 S.M. Baxter Ring (1996) i. 10 On the third day her parents took her on a trip by flitter.
2005 Apex Sci. Fiction & Horror Digest Fall 12 Flitters buzzed through the air between the spires, and brass skinned vacuum-blimps loomed over the stinking roar. They added their own unique shadows to the fuming darkness we tradesiders scurried through.