Definition of "flitting"

flitting

/ˈflɪtɪŋ/

noun
plural flittings
1. gerund of flit: the motion of something that flits.
  Quotations
  After the flitting of the bats, / When thickest dark did trance the sky, / She drew the casement-curtain by, / And glanced athwart the glooming flats.
  1830 June, Alfred Tennyson, “Mariana”, in Poems. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Edward Moxon, […], published 1842, stanza II, page 11
  The hare lends its form to the witch for her twilight flittings and scuddings to the place of some unhallowed rendezvous.
  1845, Dublin University Magazine, volume 25, page 39
2. (Northern England, Scotland) The act of moving from one residence to another; moving house.
  Quotations
  Uncle Billy came home for the weekend to help with the flitting.
  2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin, published 2009, page 87
verb
1. present participle and gerund of flit
adjective
comparative more flitting, superlative most flitting
1. Brief, likely to be of short duration.
  Quotations
  Poor Margarita's flitting life appeared to concentrate all its powers for this long desired visit, and her eyes seemed to emit a supernatural light, when they were indeed assured that Glentworth stood before her;...
  1842, [anonymous collaborator of Letitia Elizabeth Landon], chapter XXXI, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume II, London: Henry Colburn, […], page 102