flutter the dovecote
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English[edit]
Etymology[edit]
Possibly from Coriolanus (written c. 1608–1609; published 1623) by the English playwright William Shakespeare (1564–1616), Act V, scene vi (spelling modernized): “[L]ike an eagle in a dovecote, I / Fluttered your Volcians in Corioles.”[1][2]
Pronunciation[edit]
- (Received Pronunciation) IPA(key): /ˌflʌtə ðə ˈdʌvkɒt/
- (General American) IPA(key): /ˌflʌtɚ ðə ˈdʌvkɑt/, [-ɾɚ-]
- Hyphenation: flut‧ter the dove‧cote
Verb[edit]
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.
Alternative forms[edit]
Derived terms[edit]
- flutter in the dovecote (probably)
Translations[edit]
to create a disturbance, usually within a group of people who are generally placid and unexcited
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^ William Shakespeare (written c. 1608–1609) “The Tragedy of Coriolanus”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, page 30: “[L]ike an Eagle in a Doue-coat, I / Flatter’d[sic – meaning Flutter’d] your Volcians in Corioles.”
- ^ Compare “to flutter the dovecotes” under “flutter, v.”, in OED Online
, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, June 2022; “flutter the dovecotes, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
