flitter vs hover

flitter

verb
  • To flutter or quiver. 

  • To scatter in pieces. 

  • To move about rapidly and nimbly. 

  • To move quickly from one condition or location to another. 

noun
  • Any of various hesperiid butterflies of the genus Hyarotis. 

  • A fluttering movement 

  • A small aircraft or spacecraft. 

  • A small perceptible feeling 

  • A rag; a tatter; a small piece or fragment. 

hover

verb
  • To remain stationary or float in the air. 

  • To keep (something, such as an aircraft) in a stationary state in the air. 

  • Sometimes followed by over: to hang around or linger in a place, especially in an uncertain manner. 

  • Of a bird: to shelter (chicks) under its body and wings; (by extension) of a thing: to cover or surround (something). 

  • To be indecisive or uncertain; to vacillate, to waver. 

  • Chiefly followed by over: to use a mouse or other device to place a cursor over something on a screen such as a hyperlink or icon without clicking, so as to produce a result (such as the appearance of a tooltip). 

  • To travel in a hovercraft as it moves above a water surface. 

noun
  • An act, or the state, of remaining stationary in the air or some other place. 

  • A flock of birds fluttering in the air in one place. 

  • A cover; a protection; a shelter; specifically, an overhanging bank or stone under which fish can shelter; also, a shelter for hens brooding their eggs. 

  • An act, or the state, of being suspended; a suspension. 

How often have the words flitter and hover occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )