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flutter the dovecote. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
flutter the dovecote, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
flutter the dovecote in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
Possibly from Coriolanus (written c. 1608–1609; published 1623) by the English playwright William Shakespeare (1564–1616), Act V, scene vi (spelling modernized): “ike an eagle in a dovecote, I / Fluttered your Volcians in Corioles.”[1][2]
Pronunciation
Verb
flutter the dovecote (third-person singular simple present flutters the dovecote, present participle fluttering the dovecote, simple past and past participle fluttered the dovecote)
- (idiomatic) To create a disturbance, usually within a group of people who are generally placid and unexcited.
Derived terms
Translations
to create a disturbance, usually within a group of people who are generally placid and unexcited
See also
References
- ^ William Shakespeare (written c. 1608–1609) “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, page 30: “ike an Eagle in a Doue-coat, I / Flatter’d your Volcians in Corioles.”
- ^ Compare “to flutter the dovecotes” under “flutter, v.”, in OED Online , Oxford: Oxford University Press, June 2022; “flutter the dovecotes, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.