flite

American  

[flahyt] / flaɪt /

Or flyte

verb (used without object)

flited, fliting

1. to dispute; wrangle; scold; jeer.

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noun

1. a dispute or wrangle; scolding.

flite British  

/ flaɪt, fləɪt /

verb

1. (tr) to scold or rail at

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noun

1. a dispute or scolding

Etymology

Origin of flite

First recorded before 900; (verb) Middle English fliten, Old English flītan “to strive, contend”; akin to Middle High German vlīzen ( German Fleiss “industry”), Old Saxon flītan; (noun) Middle English; Old English flīt “strife, abuse,” derivative of the verb

Example Sentences

It is built in the same manner as we do steps leading up to a sun-dial or fountain erected in the middle of a square, where there is a flite of steps on each side.

From The Life of Captain James Cook by Kitson, Arthur

Well my aunt did na frump or flite me, as I thought she would, but she held me by the hand, and looked hard in my face all the time.

From Madam Crowl's Ghost and the Dead Sexton by Le Fanu, Joseph Sheridan

Then she kissed Kemerezzeman again and again between the eyes and repeated the following ode: Ah me, what ails the censurer that he at thee should flite?

From The Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Volume III by Payne, John

It is she who writes on her door, with a piece of Spanish chalk, when she goes out: I am at my nabor's, down one flite.

From Fr?d?rique; vol. 1 by Kock, Charles Paul de

It's a great big ould place, like the jail at Limerick, only darker, with little windows, and a flite of stairs out of every corner in it.

From The Dodd Family Abroad, Vol. I by Lever, Charles James