SuaviloquyToday’s word

flitting

Flitting, n.

1. A flying with lightness and celerity; a fluttering.

2. A removal from one habitation to another. [Scot. & Prov. Eng.] A neighbor had lent his cart for the flitting, and it was now standing loaded at the door, ready to move away. Jeffrey.

1 other Webster entry under this spelling

Flitting, Flytting, n.

Contention; strife; scolding; specif., a kind of metrical contest between two persons, popular in Scotland in the 16th century. [Obs. or Scot.]

These "flytings" consisted of alternate torrents of sheer Billingsgate poured upon each other by the combatants. Saintsbury.

Shades of meaning

Fernald has no entry of its own for flitting; he lists it under transient.

He lists it without comment; the entries above explain its neighbors.