fly1
/flʌɪ
/verb (flies, flying; past flew /fluː/; past participle flown /fləʊn/) [no object]
1(Of a bird, bat, or insect) move through the air using wings: close the door or the moths will fly in the bird can fly enormous distances...
- What was also surprising was the number of insects still flying and giving the birds a good meal.
- In rainy periods, when few insects are flying, the birds switch to ground feeding.
- She walked past neat gardens and tidy houses, watching small birds bath in bird baths, insects fly around flowers and people inside their air conditioned houses.
Synonyms
travel through the air, wing its way, wing, glide, soar, wheel;
flutter, flit;
hover, hang;
take wing, take to the air, mount
1.1(Of an aircraft or its occupants) travel through the air: I fly back to London this evening...
- When an airplane is flying, it has a good deal of forward speed and airflow over all of its surfaces.
- In addition, the newer aircraft can fly higher and have a greater range than the older planes.
- After nearly nine months of work, he said that it was very pleasing to see the aircraft flying once again.
Synonyms
travel/go by air, travel/go by plane, jet;
Indian air-dash
1.2 [with object] Control the flight of (an aircraft): he flew Hurricanes in the war...
- The aircraft is flown by two flight crew with between six and ten mission crew.
- This reduced the amount of control forces and the frequency of control movements required to fly the aircraft.
- The nearest aircraft was regularly flown by Flight Lieutenant Bill Newton.
Synonyms
pilot, operate, control, manoeuvre, steer, guide, direct, navigate
1.3 [with object and adverbial of direction] Transport in an aircraft: helicopters flew the injured to hospital...
- They are sending a transport aircraft to fly relief to Grand Bahama.
- The injured boy was flown by helicopter to hospital, where he was treated for multiple bites to the arms and legs.
- Two other US soldiers were injured and were flown by helicopter back to a field hospital in the capital where they were in a ‘stable’ condition last night.
Synonyms
transport by air/plane, airlift, lift, jet
1.4 [with object] Accomplish (a purpose) in an aircraft: pilots trained to fly combat missions...
- He said his father was also training Peruvian pilots to fly combat missions.
- It was the first time since the Vietnam War that Royal Australian Air Force aircraft have flown close air support missions in support of Australian ground troops in a war zone.
- He was a skilled pilot who had flown combat missions with the Royal Naval Air Service in World War I.
1.5 [with object] Release (a bird) to fly, especially a hawk for hunting or a pigeon for racing.He would go up on to the roof each morning at dawn to fly his beloved birds into the clear sky....
- He was prepared to provide T-bar perches for installation in areas where he regularly flew the birds.
- Captive-bred birds are easy to come by now, but the time needed to look after and fly a bird is still a rare commodity.
2 [usually with adverbial of direction] Move or be hurled quickly through the air: balls kept flying over her hedge he was sent flying by the tackle...
- Shards of plastic and even wheels had been sent flying across the street into gardens and hedges.
- Punches were thrown, chairs sent flying, a woman pushed to the floor and spectators in the packed arena sent running for cover, according to reports from the scene.
- It was a breezy southwesterly gale which caused overflowing dustbins to be sent flying through the masses.
2.1 (past flied) Baseball Hit a ball high into the air: he flied out to the left field...
- With Wakefield up in the pen yet again as Francona burned through his options, Curt Leskanic came in and got Williams to fly to center to end the inning.
- He was in the outfield when Houston pitcher Bill Greason flew to left.
- The deciding run, in the fourth inning, came as Crabtree tripled after Longacre fell trying to make the catch and Kurowski flew to right.
3 [with adverbial] Wave or flutter in the wind: she ran after him, her hair flying behind her...
- Shaking his head back and forth his hair flew everywhere, hand waving at the side of his head as if he smelled something bad.
- Her hair was blowing freely in the wind and her cloak flew behind her, she felt so free when riding like nothing could touch her and she could do as she pleased.
- We've all seen the image of the person on the motorcycle with her hair flying behind her in the wind.
Synonyms
flutter, flap, wave, blow, waft, float, stream
3.1(With reference to a flag) display or be displayed on a flagpole: [with object]: vessels which flew the Spanish flag [no object]: flags were flying at half mast...
- The flag was flying on the flagpole, meaning that Her Majesty was at home.
- No one partied harder than the people of Bolton, with flags flying patriotically from flagpoles and bunting between the houses.
- The flag flew from every public building, from every municipal flagpole, and from every structure of consequence in the land.
Synonyms
display, show, exhibit;
have hoisted, have run up
4 [usually with adverbial of direction] Go or move quickly: she flew along the path his fingertips flew across the keyboard...
- My fingers were flying over the keyboard, making words and sentences and thoughts.
- I can go into a state of zen-like calm and concentration, while my fingers fly across the keyboard.
- The horse flew smoothly along the ground, her muscles moving in perfect synchronization with each other.
4.1 informal Depart hastily: I must fly!...
- We too must fly, so stride briskly over the bridge to Boat Of Garten, from where a steam railway plies its way across the moor to Aviemore, giving another magnificent aspect of the mountains.
- And they've just put out the second call for our flight, so I must fly…
- ‘Thank you.’ Claudia stood up. ‘I have to fly! We must get together for dinner soon!’
Synonyms
race, hurry, hasten, flash, dash, dart, rush, shoot, speed, hurtle, streak, really move, spank along, whirl, whizz, go like lightning, go hell for leather, whoosh, buzz, zoom, swoop, blast, charge;
stampede, gallop, chase, career, bustle, sweep, hare, wing, scurry, scud, scutter
informal belt, scoot, scorch, tear, zap, zip, whip (along), get cracking, get a move on, step on it, burn rubber, go like a bat out of hell
British informal bomb, bucket, shift, put one's foot down
North American informal clip, boogie, hightail, barrel, lay rubber
North American vulgar slang drag/tear/haul ass
literary fleet
archaic post, hie
4.2(Of time) pass swiftly: the evening had just flown by...
- Another weekend has flown past and Easter is looming up pretty fast again this year.
- Our five days in Germany's capital city flew along quickly even though the first week of January is more like an extended siesta period for Germans.
- Those long winters on Lewis must have just flown by.
Synonyms
go quickly, fly by/past, pass swiftly, slip past, rush past
4.3(Of accusations or insults) be exchanged swiftly and heatedly: the accusations flew thick and fast...
- Since the most recent round of devastating fires, the accusations have flown thick and fast.
- If that weren't enough, the insults and accusations were flying like sand on a pre-school playground.
- And the accusations of sexism keep flying in thick and fast.
4.4(Of a report) be circulated swiftly and widely: rumours were flying around Manchester...
- Then yesterday in the mid afternoon text messages began flying around the town that the Alexander The Great star was perched on a bar stool in the Purty Kitchen Pub with some friends.
- Rumours are currently flying around cyberspace that there might be a further three episodes of Star Wars in the pipeline.
- With all the rumours that were flying around about the newspaper's feature on the nightclub, I couldn't help myself; I had to get my hands on the article and read it myself.
4.5 archaic Run away: those that fly may fight again...
- it was to the English he must have flown for protection, and to them he would naturally have communicated his fears.
- Yet you did not fly from me, nor did I fly from you: we are innocent towards one another in our unfaithfulness.
- These people know of my crime; perhaps they will not fly from me, and will only kill me.
4.6 [with object] archaic Escape from in haste: you must fly the country for a while...
- He was compelled to fly the realm for having murdered a woman with child.
- Protestants, wherever they could obtain shipping, hasted to fly the country.
- This is no time for thanks, Mr. Peters, unless it is to the Lord; you must fly the country, and that at once!
5North American informal Be successful: that idea didn’t fly with most other council members...
- Here's one we prepared earlier on the current state of the art, and presumably if the UK scheme flies it will be along the lines of the US stuff.
- This film usually gets great ratings, but it just didn't fly for me.
- If this idea flies, I have no problem in supporting it and finding the ways to make it feasible.
noun (plural flies)
1 (British often flies) An opening at the crotch of a pair of trousers, closed with a zip or buttons and typically covered with a flap.Interesting alternatives are Velcro straps or, if the shorts fit perfectly, stylish button flies....
- Imagine my reaction then as I stumble out of the cupboard buttoning up the flies on my jeans and two secretaries are walking past.
- We make boxers with fake flies, no flies, and button flies.
1.1A flap of material covering the opening or fastening of a garment or of a tent.We use our ice axes to stake down the fly, but it flaps as violently as a trapped bird....
- I do not like how far I have to reach from the inside of the tent to the zip on the fly.
- After the exterior of the tent's fly dries, remove it and drape it over a bush or tree limb with the interior exposed.
2 (the flies) The space over the stage in a theatre.The rest, even while the scenery keeps rising from the floor or descending from the flies, remains unremittingly flat....
- Also all sorts of bolts of cloth unrolled this way and that or unfurling from the flies, sometimes covering the entire cast, though not for long enough.
- Suspended from the flies or moving in slow motion, she was a spiritual warrior and her chalked, nude body was her testing ground.
3 Baseball short for fly ball.He led off the top of the ninth inning with a high fly down the left field line....
- In years gone by, if a fielder caught a foul fly while stepping into the dugout, it was ruled a legal catch.
- He steals a base up by 10 runs or down by 10, and he's standing on second base by the time his routine fly to center field is caught.
4 (plural usually flys) British historical A one-horse hackney carriage.The season at Solentsea was now past: the parade was gloomy, and the flys were few and cheap....
- I paid my bill at the hotel, and hired a fly to take me to the town.
- In half a minute the light of the lanterns fell upon a hired fly, drawn by a steaming and jaded horse.
5Australian /NZ informal An attempt: we decided to give it a fly
Phrases
fly the coop
fly the flag
fly high
fly in the face of
fly into a rage (or temper)
fly a kite
fly the nest
fly off the handle
go fly a kite
on the fly
Phrasal verbs
fly at
Derivatives
flyable
- Another deal was struck which would see Dick and his crew get the plane flyable, take it Long Beach and put it up for sale.
- The idea is to create a network of volunteers who would be willing to donate, or loan, their old, but still flyable, gliders and gear to instructors.
- If an aircrew makes errors in evaluating an engine failure, they can lose a perfectly flyable aircraft.
Origin
Old English flēogan, of Germanic origin; related to Dutch vliegen and German fliegen, also to fly2.
In Old English a fly was any winged insect. In the 17th century the clergyman Edward Topsell wrote of ‘the black flies called beetles’. A fly in the ointment is a minor irritation that spoils the success or enjoyment of something. The phrase goes back to a verse in the biblical book of Ecclesiastes, ‘Dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour.’ To fly a kite has had various incarnations in slang. It now means ‘to try something out to test public opinion’, but in the 19th century it was to raise money on credit. In the USA telling someone to go fly a kite is to tell them to go away. The flies on trousers or in a theatre come from the idea that they are only partly attached to their base, as if they could fly off.
Rhymes
fly2
/flʌɪ/noun (plural flies)
1A flying insect of a large order characterized by a single pair of transparent wings and sucking (and often also piercing) mouthparts. Flies are of great importance as vectors of disease. See also Diptera.
- Order Diptera: numerous families.
- There were also winged salamanders feasting on flying insects such as flies and mosquitoes.
- A single fly was placed on the platform, and placidly stayed there, motionless, until the test stimulus was presented.
1.1 [usually in combination] Used in names of flying insects of other orders, e.g. butterfly, dragonfly, firefly.In the garden dill attracts beneficial insects, including bees, parasitic wasps and tachinid flies....
- These are visited by a diverse array of animals, including bees, hawk moths, beetles, butterflies, long-tongued flies, hummingbirds and bats.
- Donald Feener is an ecologist at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City who studies the relationship between parasitic flies and ants.
1.2 [mass noun] An infestation of flying insects on a plant or animal: cattle to be treated for warble fly...
- Where Mediterranean fruit fly is a potential problem, bait should be laid six weeks before picking.
- The Mock Orange bush has a bad case of black fly already, and the rose bush has greenfly.
- Some of the young bulbs on the lower deck are still green and you have to be alert for green fly.
1.3A natural or artificial flying insect used as bait in fishing, especially a mayfly.There seems to be a culture that now associates using artificial lures and flies with the need to conserve our stocks for the future....
- Take the advice of local anglers for choice of flies and small popping plugs.
- Unlike in trout fishing, where an artificial fly is used, anglers hunting pike tend to go for bait such as small fish.
Phrases
die (or drop) like flies
drink with the flies
a fly in the ointment
fly on the wall
like a blue-arsed fly
(there are) no flies on ——
wouldn't hurt (or harm) a fly
you (can) catch more flies with honey than (with) vinegar
Origin
Old English flȳge, flēoge, denoting any winged insect, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch vlieg and German Fliege, also to fly1.
fly3
/flʌɪ/adjective (flyer, flyest) informal
1British Knowing and clever: she’s fly enough not to get tricked out of it...
- Never in the history of nannies has there been a more fly nanny than Julie Andrews.
- I'm too fly to admit anything to youse guys.
- This sort of manoeuvre must have been what one shadow cabinet colleague had in mind when he privately described the politician as ‘an extremely fly operator’.
2North American Fashionably attractive and impressive: a fly dude...
- If your neighbor's got a fly crib or a pimped-out set of wheels, that's their business, not yours.
- I was looking for the fly stuff, and I don't mean fishing gear.
- Babs wants to know if her romance with the fly guy she met last year is for keeps.
Derivatives
flyness
- He shared his neighbours' fundamental piety, their flyness, their brusque manners and their vigorous speech.
- your page is so live and professional, that I did not want to ruin its flyness.
- If you're looking for the suit that will make you look like a celebrity, with a little bit of "flyness" to it, then this is it!
Origin
Early 19th century: of unknown origin.