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# flick

«flick» in Mova's school dictionary: **To hit or move something with a quick small movement, for…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

verb (flick, flicks, flicked, flicking); noun (a flick, flicks)

### meaning for a pupil

1) To hit or move something with a quick small movement, for example with a finger. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flick/#m1)

2) To switch something on or off quickly: «flick the light switch». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flick/#m2)

3) To turn pages quickly or change TV channels: «flick through a book». [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flick/#m3)

4) (noun) A quick, light movement or hit. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flick/#m4)

5) (informal, noun) A film: «the flicks» means the cinema (old UK). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flick/#m5)

### sense in the lessons

In everyday life: flicking a switch, flicking through a comic, a horse flicking its tail. In manners, flicking things at people is rude and can hurt eyes. Phrases: «flick through», «flick a switch», «with a flick of the wrist».

### examples

- He flicked the crumbs off the table. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flick/#x1)
- Flick the switch to turn on the light. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flick/#x2)
- I flicked through the book to find the pictures. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flick/#x3)
- The horse flicked its tail at the flies. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flick/#x4)
- Don't flick rubber bands; you could hurt someone's eye. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flick/#x5)
- With a flick of her wrist, she spun the top. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flick/#x6)
- The lizard's tongue flicked in and out. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flick/#x7)
- So he awoke the wolf by flicking him across the eyes with his brush. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flick/#x8)

### note

Past form: flicked. «Flick through» means look quickly, not read carefully. Do not confuse with «flip» (turn over) — they overlap a little.

### In the corpora

- [Most American tarantulas flick itchy barbed hairs at enemies, and female tarantulas can live 20 to 30 years.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/38-spiders-scorpions-and-eight-legged-creatures/12/)
- [A blue tang has a sharp spine like a little knife near its tail that it can flick out to defend itself.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/133-finding-nemo-dory-turtles-and-the-reef/5/)
- [Tarantulas are mostly gentle; their bite is usually no worse than a bee sting, and some flick itchy hairs to defend themselves.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/148-spider-man-real-spider-senses-climbing-and-bites/11/)
- [In one stage the brain is very busy, the eyes flick about under the lids and the body twitches.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/biology/391-do-animals-dream-twitching-dogs-replaying-rats-and-colour-changing-octopuses/3/)
- [A tail that flicks, swishes or thumps usually means the cat is annoyed.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/23-understanding-cats/10/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «flick» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/F/flick/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.