Library / English Dictionary

FLURRY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

Irregular inflected form: flurried   

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

A rapid active commotion

Synonyms:

ado; bustle; flurry; fuss; hustle; stir

Classified under:

Nouns denoting acts or actions

Hypernyms ("flurry" is a kind of...):

commotion; din; ruckus; ruction; rumpus; tumult (the act of making a noisy disturbance)

Derivation:

flurry (move in an agitated or confused manner)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A light brief snowfall and gust of wind (or something resembling that)

Example:

there was a flurry of chicken feathers

Synonyms:

flurry; snow flurry

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural phenomena

Hypernyms ("flurry" is a kind of...):

snow; snowfall (precipitation falling from clouds in the form of ice crystals)

 II. (verb) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Cause to feel embarrassment

Example:

The constant attention of the young man confused her

Synonyms:

confuse; disconcert; flurry; put off

Classified under:

Verbs of feeling

Hypernyms (to "flurry" is one way to...):

abash; embarrass (cause to be embarrassed; cause to feel self-conscious)

Verb group:

bedevil; befuddle; confound; confuse; discombobulate; fox; fuddle; throw (be confusing or perplexing to; cause to be unable to think clearly)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "flurry"):

fluster (cause to be nervous or upset)

bother (make confused or perplexed or puzzled)

deflect; distract (draw someone's attention away from something)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s somebody
Something ----s somebody

Sentence examples:

The bad news will flurry him

The good news will flurry her

Sense 2

Meaning:

Move in an agitated or confused manner

Classified under:

Verbs of walking, flying, swimming

Hypernyms (to "flurry" is one way to...):

move (move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s PP

Derivation:

flurry (a rapid active commotion)

Credits

 Context examples: 

We therefore trusted ourselves to the mercy of the waves, and in about half an hour the boat was overset by a sudden flurry from the north. What became of my companions in the boat, as well as of those who escaped on the rock, or were left in the vessel, I cannot tell; but conclude they were all lost.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

As the elms bent to one another, like giants who were whispering secrets, and after a few seconds of such repose, fell into a violent flurry, tossing their wild arms about, as if their late confidences were really too wicked for their peace of mind, some weatherbeaten ragged old rooks'-nests, burdening their higher branches, swung like wrecks upon a stormy sea.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

All eyes met her with a glance of eager curiosity, and she met all eyes with one of rebuff and coldness; she looked neither flurried nor merry: she walked stiffly to her seat, and took it in silence.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

These were thoughts, with their attendant visions, which occupied and flurried her too much to leave her any power of observation; and she passed along the room without having a glimpse of him, without even trying to discern him.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

The car dashed on, leaving the flurry of combat far behind, and its dumfounded passengers never dreamed that the quiet young man and the pretty working-girl sitting in the corner on the outside seat had been the cause of the row.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

He had fumed inwardly during the feast, but when the flurry was over and he strolled home after seeing Scott off, a milder mood came over him.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

A raw wind was blowing, and the first flurries of snow were whitening the hilltops.

(Love of Life and Other Stories, by Jack London)

In the cold hour the fire began to die, and I was about stepping forth to replenish it, for now the snow came in flying sweeps and with it a chill mist. Even in the dark there was a light of some kind, as there ever is over snow; and it seemed as though the snow-flurries and the wreaths of mist took shape as of women with trailing garments.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Even when, at last, I had knocked, and was waiting at the door, I had some flurried thought of asking if that were Mr. Blackboy's (in imitation of poor Barkis), begging pardon, and retreating.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

This time at least modern weapons prevailed and the great creature, twelve feet from head to foot—phororachus its name, according to our panting but exultant Professor—went down before Lord Roxton's rifle in a flurry of waving feathers and kicking limbs, with two remorseless yellow eyes glaring up from the midst of it.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)