Word.ws English Dictionary

flutter in the dovecote

Syllables: flut·ter in the dove·coteUK/ˌflʌtə ɪn‿ðə ˈdʌvkɒt//ˌflʌtɚ ɪn‿ðə ˈdʌvkɑt/

flutter in the dovecote noun: a disturbance, usually one caused within a group of people who are generally placid and unexcited.

Noun

flutter in the dovecote

  1. (idiomatic) A disturbance, usually one caused within a group of people who are generally placid and unexcited.
    • I further argued that the principal cause for the political deadlock that persisted for thirty years after the guns fell silent was Israeli intransigence rather than Arab intransigence. The appearance of the first wave of revisionist studies excited a great deal of interest and controversy in the...2001 November 15, Avi Shlaim, “Israel Confronts Its Past”, in St. Antony’s College, University of Oxford (Conflict, Justice, and Collective Memories: How Countries Deal with Difficult Pasts [lecture...

Origin of flutter in the dovecote

Probably from flutter the dovecote, 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.”

Questions about flutter in the dovecote

What does flutter in the dovecote mean?
Flutter in the dovecote means a disturbance, usually one caused within a group of people who are generally placid and unexcited.
What part of speech is flutter in the dovecote?
Flutter in the dovecote is a noun.
How do you pronounce flutter in the dovecote?
Flutter in the dovecote is pronounced /ˌflʌtə ɪn‿ðə ˈdʌvkɒt/ (UK).

Words near flutter in the dovecote in the dictionary

  1. flutoprazepam
  2. flutriafol
  3. flutrimazole
  4. flutter
  5. flutter echo
  6. flutter in the dovecote
  7. flutter kick
  8. flutter kicks
  9. flutter the dovecot
  10. flutter the dovecote
  11. flutter the dovecotes

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: flutter in the dovecote (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-flutter in the dovecote.wav.

Cite this entry: “flutter in the dovecote.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/flutter_in_the_dovecote. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.