flutter in the dovecote

flut·ter in the dove·cote
UK/ˌflʌtə ɪn‿ðə ˈdʌvkɒt/US/ˌflʌtɚ ɪn‿ðə ˈdʌvkɑt/US[-ɾɚ-]

noun

A disturbance, usually one caused within a group of people who are generally placid and unexcited.

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Meanings

noun
  1. idiomaticA disturbance, usually one caused within a group of people who are generally placid and unexcited.
    1 more example

    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 media and more than a flutter in the academic dovecote.

    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 series]), archived from the original on 25 Sep 2006

Synonyms & antonyms

Also see
flutter

Origin

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.”

Full word history & related roots →

Translations

Dutch opwinding
  • opwindingdisturbance, usually one caused within a group of people who are generally placid and unexcited — see also disturbance
Finnish hälinä
  • hälinädisturbance, usually one caused within a group of people who are generally placid and unexcited — see also disturbance
Polish zamieszanie
  • zamieszaniedisturbance, usually one caused within a group of people who are generally placid and unexcited — see also disturbance
Russian переполо́х в курятнике
  • переполо́х в курятнике (perepolóx v kurjatnike)disturbance, usually one caused within a group of people who are generally placid and unexcited — see also disturbance
Cite this entry
APA

flutter in the dovecote. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flutter%20in%20the%20dovecote

MLA

“flutter in the dovecote.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flutter%20in%20the%20dovecote. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “flutter in the dovecote,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/flutter%20in%20the%20dovecote.

Source: flutter in the dovecote on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.