What is "flicker"

Flicker \Flick"er\, n.

1. The act of wavering or of fluttering; fluctuation; sudden and brief increase of brightness; as, the last flicker of the dying flame.

2. (Zo["o]l.) The golden-winged woodpecker ( Colaptes aurutus); -- so called from its spring note. Called also yellow-hammer, high-holder, pigeon woodpecker, and yucca.

   The cackle of the flicker among the oaks.
   --Thoureau.

Flicker \Flick"er\ (fl[i^]k"[~e]r), v. i. [imp. & p. p. Flickered (fl[i^]k"[~e]rd); p. pr. & vb. n. Flickering.] [OE. flikeren, flekeren, to flutter, AS. flicerian, flicorian, cf. D. flikkeren to sparkle. [root]84. Cf. Flacker.]

1. To flutter; to flap the wings without flying.

   And flickering on her nest made short essays to sing.
   --Dryden.

2. To waver unsteadily, like a flame in a current of air, or when about to expire; as, the flickering light.

   The shadows flicker to fro.
   --Tennyson.

1849, "wavering, unsteady light or flame;" 1857 as "a flickering," from flicker (v.).

Old English flicorian "to flutter, flap quickly and lightly, move the wings," originally of birds. Onomatopoeic and suggestive of quick motion. Sense of "shine with a wavering light" is c.1600, but not common till 19c. Related: Flickered; flickering.

type of North American woodpecker, 1808, American English, said to be echoic of bird's note, or from black spots on plumage of the underparts that seem to flicker as it flits from tree to tree.

Etymology 1 n. 1 An unsteady flash of light. 2 A short moment. vb. 1 (lb en intransitive) To burn or shine unsteadily. To burn or shine with a wavering light. 2 (lb en intransitive) To keep going on and off; to appear and disappear for short moments; to flutter. 3 To flutter; to flap the wings without flying. Etymology 2

n. (context US English) A certain type of small woodpecker, especially of the genus ''Colaptes'' Etymology 3

n. One who flicks.

1. n. a momentary flash of light [syn: spark, glint]

2. North American woodpecker

3. the act of moving back and forth [syn: waver, flutter]

1. v. move back and forth very rapidly; "the candle flickered" [syn: waver, flitter, flutter, quiver]

2. shine unsteadily; "The candle flickered" [syn: flick]

3. flash intermittently; "The lights flicked on and off" [syn: flick]

Flicker may refer to any of the following:

• Flickers, woodpeckers of the subgenus Colaptes
• Flicker (screen), a fading between frames that occurs on a cathode-ray screen at low refresh rates
• Power line flicker, a fluctuation in the voltage of AC power lines, whose compliance is regulated by IEC61000-3-3
• Flicker noise, electrical noise with a 1/f spectrum.
• Flicker, a guitar tremolo made by ESP Guitars in the late 1970s and early 1980s

• Flicker, the original bass guitarist for the band Manic Street Preachers
• Flicker, a character in the cartoon and video game Blazing Dragons
• Flicker (novel), a book by Theodore Roszak
• Flicker, a candle maker transformed into a candle man appearing in The Ice King of Oz and subsequent books by Eric Shanower.
• Flicker, a 1973 pinball table made by Bally
• Flicker Film Festival, an ongoing film series featuring Super 8 and 16mm short films
• Flicker Records, a record label belonging to Sony
• Flicker (album), Ayria's second album
• The Flicker, an experimental film created in 1965 by Tony Conrad
• Flicker (film), a 2008 Canadian film
• Flicker, A song from Porter Robinson and was taken from the album Worlds

• A remote control device (especially for televisions)
• A flyswatter

Flicker is a novel by Theodore Roszak published in 1991.

The novel covers approximately 15–20 years of the life of film scholar Jonathan Gates, whose academic investigations draw him into the shadowy world of esoteric conspiracy that underlies the work of fictional B-movie director Max Castle. Director Darren Aronofsky's name has long been associated with a possible film adaptation.

Flicker is the third album by Canadian futurepop/ synthpop music project Ayria, released in 2005. A deluxe edition featured a bonus disc and an extra cardboard box to store the album in.

"Flicker" is the seventh episode of the fifth season of the anthology television series American Horror Story. It aired on November 18, 2015 on the cable network FX.

Flicker is a visible fading between cycles displayed on video displays, especially the refresh interval on cathode ray tube (CRT) as well as Plasma based computer screens and/or TVs. Flicker occurs on CRTs when they are driven at a low refresh rate, allowing the brightness to drop for time intervals sufficiently long to be noticed by a human eye – see persistence of vision and flicker fusion threshold. For most devices, the screen's phosphors quickly lose their excitation between sweeps of the electron gun, and the afterglow is unable to fill such gaps – see phosphor persistence. A similar effect occurs in PDPs during their refresh cycles.

For example, if a cathode ray tube's vertical refresh rate is set to 60 Hz, most screens will produce a visible "flickering" effect, unless they use phosphor with long afterglow. Most people find that refresh rates of 70–90 Hz and above enable flicker-free viewing on CRTs. Use of refresh rates above 120 Hz is uncommon, as they provide little noticeable flicker reduction and limit available resolution.

Since the shutters used in liquid crystal displays for each pixel stay at a steady opacity, they do not flicker, even when the image is refreshed. The backlights of such displays typically operate in the range of 150–250 Hz. But, to save the crystals from deterioration caused by constant current, voltage is constantly reversed, which may cause flicker. "In a pixel on an LCD monitor, the amount of light that is transmitted from the backlight depends on the voltage applied to the pixel. For the amount of light, it doesn't matter whether that voltage is negative or positive. However, applying the same voltage for a long period would damage the pixel. For example, electricity decomposes water into oxygen and hydrogen gas. A comparable similar effect could happen inside the liquid crystals that are in the pixels. In order to prevent damage, LCD displays quickly alternate the voltage between positive and negative for each pixel, which is called 'polarity inversion'. Ideally, the rapid polarity inversion wouldn't be noticeable because every pixel has the same brightness whether a positive or a negative voltage is applied. However, in practice, there is a small difference, which means that every pixel flickers at about 30 hertz."

The lighting used in film projectors is typically an incandescent lamp or arc lamp, which does not flicker, but some degree of flicker is desirable to help decrease the flicker fusion threshold comfortably below film's typical framerate of 24 fps. This is usually accomplished with a shutter which causes the lamplight to apparently strobe on and off at a multiple of the framerate, most often 48–96 Hz.

The exact refresh rate necessary to prevent the perception of flicker varies greatly based on the viewing environment. In a completely dark room, a sufficiently dim display can run as low as 30 Hz without visible flicker. At normal room and TV brightness this same display rate would produce flicker so severe as to be unwatchable.

Chewing something crunchy such as Doritos or granola can induce flicker perception due to the vibrations from chewing synchronizing with the flicker rate of the display.

Another factor in detecting flicker is peripheral vision. The human eye is most sensitive to flicker at the edges of human field of view, and least sensitive at the center of gaze (the area being focused on). As a result, the greater the portion of our field of view that is occupied by a display, the greater is the need for high refresh rates. This is why computer monitor CRTs usually run at 70 to 90 Hz, while TVs, which are viewed from further away, are seen as acceptable at 60 or 50 Hz (see Analog television Standards).

FLicKeR is a Canadian documentary film written and directed by Nik Sheehan, produced by Maureen Judge and Silva Basmajian ( NFB). The film is based on the book Chapel of Extreme Experience by John G. Geiger about the work of artist Brion Gysin and his Dreamachine.

Gysin's Dreamachine used a 100-watt light bulb, a motor, and a rotating cylinder with cutouts. Its users would sit in front of it, close their eyes, and experience visions as a result of the flashes of light. Gysin believed that by offering the world a drugless high the invention could revolutionize human consciousness.

The documentary features interviews with many prominent figures from the beat movement who had experimented with Gysin's invention and discuss his life and ideas in the film. Notable figures include Marianne Faithfull, DJ Spooky, The Stooges, Iggy Pop, Lee Ranaldo, Genesis P-Orridge, John Giorno, Floria Sigismondi, and Kenneth Anger.

The film premiered in Toronto in 2008 at the international documentary film festival Hot Docs and received the festival's Special Jury Prize for the best Canadian Feature Length Documentary. It then went on to win in the Best Film on International Art category at the 2009 Era New Horizons Film Festival in Poland, and was also nominated for a 2009 Gemini Award in the category of Best Performing Arts Program or Series or Arts Documentary Program or Series, and best original score by composer Edmund Eagan. Nik Sheehan was also nominated for a Canadian screenwriting award by the Writers Guild of Canada.

"Flicker" is a song recorded by American electronic music producer Porter Robinson. It was released on July 28, 2014 as the fourth single from his debut studio album Worlds (2014). Robinson wrote, produced, and performed the track. Musically, the song contains elements of disco and hip-hop, as well as sampling of soul music. Vocally, the song contains a text-to-speech voice incorrectly translating "never seen" Japanese song titles that have been chopped and screwed in a rap-like style.

An official music video for the single premiered on August 14, 2014, and involves footage of Japan filtered with effects including those of 8-bit video games. The song was well-received from critics, and was a hit on the American Dance/Electronic Songs chart.