Brewer's: Flirt

A coquette. The word is from the verb flirt, as, “to flirt a fan.” The fan being used for coquetting, those who coquetted were called fan-flirts. Lady Frances Shirley, the favourite of Lord Chesterfield, introduced the word. Flirt is allied to flutter, flit, jerk, etc.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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