fly - Wiktionary, the free dictionary (original) (raw)

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

See also: Fly

Clipping of English Flaaitaal with y as a placeholder.

fly

  1. (international standards) ISO 639-3 language code for Tsotsitaal.

From Middle English flye, flie, from Old English flȳġe, flēoge (“a fly”), from Proto-West Germanic *fleugā, from Proto-Germanic *fleugǭ (“a fly”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“to fly”).

Cognate with Scots flee, Saterland Frisian Fljooge, Dutch vlieg, German Low German Fleeg, German Fliege, Danish flue, Norwegian Bokmål flue, Norwegian Nynorsk fluge, Swedish fluga, Icelandic fluga.

A fly (insect)

fly (plural flies)

  1. (zoology) Any insect of the order Diptera; characterized by having two wings (except for some wingless species), also called true flies.
    • 2012 January, Douglas Larson, “Runaway Devils Lake”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 46:
      Devils Lake is where I began my career as a limnologist in 1964, studying the lake’s neotenic salamanders and chironomids, or midge flies. […] The Devils Lake Basin is an endorheic, or closed, basin covering about 9,800 square kilometers in northeastern North Dakota.
  2. (non-technical) Especially, any of the insects of the family Muscidae, such as the common housefly (other families of Diptera include mosquitoes and midges).
    • 1913, Joseph C[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
      When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose. And the queerer the cure for those ailings the bigger the attraction. A place like the Right Livers' Rest was bound to draw freaks, same as molasses draws flies.
    • 2019 October 24, Dennis Webster, “'An indictment of South Africa': whites-only town Orania is booming”, in The Guardian‎[1], archived from the original on 29 March 2022:
      October in Orania can be charming. When the sun sets, long ribbons of burnt orange settle on the horizon. The flies and mosquitoes that come with the oppressive summer heat haven’t arrived yet. It is Magdalene Kleynhans’ favourite time of year. “You can sit outside until late into the night,” says the businesswoman, whose family spend much of their time outdoors. Her children fish from the banks of the Orange River whenever they choose. Kleynhans leaves the house unlocked. “It’s a good life. It’s a big privilege.”
  3. Those or any similar but not closely related insect, such as a dragonfly, butterfly, or gallfly.
  4. (fishing) A lightweight fishing lure resembling an insect.
    • 1886, Peter Christen Asbj&oslash￵rnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 152:
      I went on trying for fish along the western bank down the river, but only small trout rose at my flies, and a score was the total catch.
  5. (weightlifting) A chest exercise performed by moving extended arms from the sides to in front of the chest. (also flye)
  6. (swimming) The butterfly stroke (plural is normally flys).
  7. (obsolete) A witch's familiar.
  8. (obsolete) A parasite.
    • 1636, Philip Massinger, “The Bashful Lover”, in William Gifford, editor, The Plays of Philip Massinger‎[2], published 1845, act 1, scene 1, page 470:
      The fly that plays too near the flame burns in it.
  9. (preceded by definite article) A simple dance in which the hands are shaken in the air, popular in the 1960s.
  10. (finance) A butterfly (combination of four options).

extant orders of insects in English

Proto-Indo-European *-eti

Proto-Indo-European *pléwketi

English fly

From Middle English flien, from Old English flēogan, from Proto-West Germanic *fleugan, from Proto-Germanic *fleuganą, from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (*plew-k-, “to fly”), enlargement of *plew- (“flow”). Compare Etymology 1.

See also Saterland Frisian fljooge, Dutch vliegen, Low German flegen, German fliegen, Danish flyve, Norwegian Nynorsk flyga; also Lithuanian plaũkti ‘to swim’). More at flee and flow.

fly (third-person singular simple present flies, present participle flying, simple past flew, past participle flown)

  1. (intransitive) To travel through the air, another gas, or a vacuum, without being in contact with a grounded surface.
    Synonym: flutter (birds)
    Birds of passage fly to warmer regions as it gets colder in winter.
    The Concorde flew from Paris to New York faster than any other passenger airplane.
    It takes about eleven hours to fly from Frankfurt to Hong Kong.
    The little fairy flew home on the back of her friend, the giant eagle.
    • 1956 March, R. C. Blaker, “The Hedjaz Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 167:
      The railway is still vital to Jordan's export trade, but in spite of the poor quality of the road, diesel lorries are gradually robbing it of freight traffic, and anyone who can afford to fly does so rather than face the long desert journey by rail.
    • 1972, “Supernaut”, performed by Black Sabbath:
      I want to reach out and touch the sky / I want to touch the sun, but I don't need to fly
    • 2013 September 7, “On a bright new wing”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8852:
      Flying using only the power of the sun is an enticing prospect. But manned solar-powered aircraft are fragile and slow, […].
  2. (ambitransitive, archaic, poetic) To flee, to escape (from).
    Fly, my lord! The enemy are upon us!
  3. (transitive, ergative) To cause to fly (travel or float in the air): to transport via air or the like.
    Charles Lindbergh flew his airplane The Spirit of St. Louis across the Atlantic ocean.
    Why don’t you go outside and fly kites, kids? The wind is just perfect.
    Birds fly their prey to their nest to feed it to their young.
    Each day the postal service flies thousands of letters around the globe.
    • 2013 September 7, “On a bright new wing”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8852:
      A solar-powered unmanned aerial system (a UAS, more commonly called a drone) could fly long, lonely missions that conventional aircraft would not be capable of.
    • 2015, Jeromy Hopgood, Dance Production: Design and Technology, page 44:
      This area, referred to as the fly loft, should typically be two and a half times taller than the proscenium opening in order to fly the scenery above the vertical sightlines of the first row of the audience.
  4. (intransitive) To travel or proceed very fast; to hasten.
    He flew down the hill on his bicycle.
    It's five o'clock already. Doesn't time fly?
    • 1645, John Milton, On Time:
      Fly, envious Time, till thou run out thy race.
    • 1870, William Cullen Bryant (translator), The Iliad (originally by Homer)
      The dark waves murmured as the ship flew on.
    • 2011 September 18, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia”, in BBC Sport:
      After yet another missed penalty by Kvirikashvili from bang in front of the posts, England scored again, centre Tuilagi flying into the line and touching down under the bar.
  5. (intransitive) To move suddenly, or with violence; to do an act suddenly or swiftly.
    a door flies open
    a bomb flies apart
    • 1859 December 13, Charles Dickens, “The Mortals in the House”, in Charles Dickens, editor, The Haunted House. The Extra Christmas Number of All the Year Round […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Whiting, […], →OCLC, page 7, column 1:
      And in respect of the great necessity there is, my darling, for more employments being within the reach of Woman than our civilisation has as yet assigned to her, don’t fly at the unfortunate men, even those men who are at first sight in your way, as if they were the natural oppressors of your sex […]
    • 1976, J. P. Reading, chapter 15, in Tanya, New York, N.Y.: Scholastic Book Services, →OCLC, page 174:
      I was upstairs, trying hastily to fix my face and unredden my eyes when I heard a car on the drive and flew to a window to make sure that it was David.
  6. (intransitive) To proceed with great success.
    His career is really flying at the moment.
    One moment the company was flying high, the next it was on its knees.
  7. (intransitive, colloquial, of a proposal, project or idea) To be accepted, come about or work out.
    Let's see if that idea flies.
    You know, I just don't think that's going to fly. Why don't you spend your time on something better?
  8. (transitive, ergative) To display (a flag) on a flagpole.
  9. (transitive) To hunt with a hawk.
  10. (intransitive, entomology, of a type of moth or butterfly) To be in the winged adult stage.
    This species flies from late summer until frost.

From Middle English flye (“flying, flight”), from Old English flyge (“flying, flight”), from Proto-Germanic *flugiz.

fly (plural flys or flies)

  1. (obsolete) The action of flying; flight.
  2. An act of flying.
    There was a good wind, so I decided to give the kite a fly.
  3. (baseball) A fly ball.
  4. (American football) Ellipsis of fly route.
  5. A piece of canvas that covers the opening at the front of a tent.
  6. (India, obsolete) The sloping or roof part of the canvas of a tent.
    • 1810, Thomas H. Williamson, The East India Vade-Mecum, page 452:
      [T]he main part of the operation of pitching the tent, consisting of raising the flies, may be performed, and shelter afforded, without the walls, &c., being present.
    • 1816, The Grand Master, or Adventures of Qui Hi, page 152:
      The cavalcade drew up in line, / Pitch'd the marquee, and went to dine. / The bearers and the servants lie / Under the shelter of the fly.
    • 1885, Elizabeth Bacon Custer, Boots and Saddles:
      After I had changed my riding-habit for my one other gown, I came out to join the general under the tent-fly.
  7. (often plural) A strip of material (sometimes hiding zippers or buttons) at the front of a pair of trousers, pants, underpants, bootees, etc.
    Ha-ha! Your fly's undone!
    • February 2014 Y-Front Fly
      Y-Front is a registered trademark for a special front fly turned upside down to form a Y owned by Jockey® International. The first Y-Front® brief was created by Jockey® more than 70 years ago.
    • June 2014 The Hole In Men’s Underwear: Name And Purpose
      Briefs were given an opening in the front. The point of this opening (the ‘fly’) was to make it easier to pee with clothes on
  8. The moving portion of an extendable ladder.
  9. (vexillology)
    1. The free edge of a flag.
    2. The horizontal length of a flag.
  10. (weightlifting) An exercise that involves wide opening and closing of the arms perpendicular to the shoulders.
  11. The part of a weather vane pointing the direction from which the wind blows.
  12. (nautical) That part of a compass on which the points are marked; the compass card.
  1. Two or more vanes set on a revolving axis, to act as a fanner, or to equalize or impede the motion of machinery by the resistance of the air, as in the striking part of a clock.
  2. Ellipsis of flywheel.
  3. (historical) A type of small, light, fast horse-drawn carriage that can be hired for transportation (sometimes pluralised flys).
  1. In a knitting machine, the piece hinged to the needle, which holds the engaged loop in position while the needle is penetrating another loop; a latch.[1]
  2. The pair of arms revolving around the bobbin, in a spinning wheel or spinning frame, to twist the yarn.
  3. (weaving) A shuttle driven through the shed by a blow or jerk.[2]
  4. (printing, historical)
  5. The person who took the printed sheets from the press.
  6. A vibrating frame with fingers, attached to a power printing press for doing the same work.
  7. One of the upper screens of a stage in a theatre.
  1. (cotton manufacture) Waste cotton.

fly (third-person singular simple present flies, present participle flying, simple past and past participle flied)

  1. (intransitive, baseball) To hit a fly ball; to hit a fly ball that is caught for an out. Compare ground (verb) and line (verb).
    Jones flied to right in his last at-bat.

Uncertain; probably from the verb or noun.

fly (comparative flier or flyer, superlative fliest or flyest)

  1. (slang, dated) Quick-witted, alert, mentally sharp.
    • 1854, Charles Dickens, “Household Words”, in Arcadia‎[4], volume 7, page 381:
      be assured, O man of sin—pilferer of small wares and petty larcener—that there is an eye within keenly glancing from some loophole contrived between accordions and tin breastplates that watches your every movement, and is "fly,"— to use a term peculiarly comprehensible to dishonest minds—to the slightest gesture of illegal conveyancing.
  2. (slang) Clandestine, surreptitious
    • 2023 December 1, @Davo_Mack, Twitter‎[5]:
      Some say God was an alien that tampered with our DNA, the 3 kings followed ufos & Mary had a fly shag 🤔🤫
  3. (slang) Well dressed, smart in appearance; in style, cool.
    He's pretty fly.
    • 1888, Frederick Thickstun Clark, A Mexican Girl‎[6], page 270:
      when Ortega got fixed up in his fly duds like that, an ord'nary man's overcoat wouldn't make 'im a pair o' socks.
    • 1998, “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)”‎[7]performed by The Offspring:
      Give it to me, baby! Uh huh, uh huh! And all the girlies say, I’m pretty fly for a white guy.
    • 2001 September, “Super Fly”, in Vibe‎[8], volume 9, number 9, page 252:
      Starring the light-skinned Ron O'Neal with his shoulder-length perm and fly threads, Super Fly exudes a sense of black pride as O'Neal bucks the dope game, dismisses his white girlfriend, and beats The Man at his own hustle.
    • 2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World, Ballantine Books, →ISBN, page 169:
      A fly sister rolled in with a suitcase full of hip-hop novels called The Glamorous Life, and an African brother with long dreads wanted to sell them some incense and some fake Jacob watches.
    • 2012, Lindy West, Dan Savage, Christopher Frizzelle, How to Be a Person: The Stranger's Guide to College, Sex, Intoxicants, Tacos, and Life Itself‎[9]:
      How NOT to Facebook / […] no naked pictures, no deep emotions (awkward), no tagging a bunch of people in a picture of some fly Nikes, no making dinner plans (just use a PHONE).
    • 2013, Louisa Jepson, “‘At the moment it appears I have, like 7000 girlfriends’”, in Harry Styles: Every Piece of Me, London: Simon & Schuster UK Ltd, published 2014, →ISBN, page 209:
      Harry [Styles] and Grimmy had struck up quite a friendship with Rita [Ora] and a few weeks earlier had been seen at G-A-Y for her album launch. She tweeted a picture of the trio saying: ‘Thanks for coming my little fashionistas. Looking flyer than a mofo.’
    • 2019, “Balenciaga”, performed by Princess Nokia:
      I'm so fly, I don't even try / I get so high, I can touch the sky / Dress for myself, I don't dress for hype / I dress for myself, you dress for the likes
  4. (slang) Beautiful; displaying physical beauty.
    • 1979, “We Rap More Mellow”, performed by The Younger Generation:
      [Rahiem] My name brings peace and tranquility / So all the fly ladies' hearts can run free
    • 1991, “Busy Doin Nuthin”, in I Need a Haircut, performed by Biz Markie:
      Word is bond she looked divine, she looked as fly as can be
      I thought she was different cause she was by herself
      She looked real wholesome, and in good physical health
    • 1994, “Memory Lane (Sittin’ in da Park)”, in Illmatic, performed by Nas:
      I rap for listeners, blunt heads, fly ladies and prisoners

quick-witted

well dressed

Related to German Flügel (“a wing”), Dutch vleugel (“a wing”), Swedish flygel (“a wing”).

fly (plural flies)

  1. (rustic, Scotland, Northern England) A wing.
    The bullet barely grazed the wild fowl's fly.

fly (plural flies)

  1. Alternative form of vly (“swamp (in New York)”).

    • 1880, Nathaniel Bartlett Sylvester, History of Ulster County, New York: With Illustrations and..., page 185:
      June 8, 1708, John Cock and William Nottingham desire 100 acres each [...] Isaac Davis desied a conveyance for the "greenbush" fly or swamp that he hath drained near his land, in the Jaagh Creupel-bosh.
    • 1924, Frederick Van Wyck, Keskachauge: Or the First White Settlement on Long Island, page 321:
      […] one certain Lot of the Long fly, or swamp situate lying and being [in] the Township of Flatlands […] recorded June 15, 1876, Liber 1244 of Conveyances, at page 494, Kings County. The "East Division" was the Long Vly, […]
    • 1961, William Gideon Closson, The Josiah Closson Family of New England, page 110:
      […] to a white maple stake standing in a fly or swamp , thence N [...] to a Hemlock Stake, […]

  2. ^ Edward H[enry] Knight (1877), “Fly”, in Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary. […], volumes I (A–GAS), New York, N.Y.: Hurd and Houghton […], →OCLC.

  3. ^ Edward H[enry] Knight (1877), “Fly”, in Knight’s American Mechanical Dictionary. […], volumes I (A–GAS), New York, N.Y.: Hurd and Houghton […], →OCLC.

An abbreviation of flyvemaskine, after Norwegian fly and Swedish flyg.

fly n (singular definite flyet, plural indefinite **fly)

  1. airplane, aeroplane
    Synonyms: flyvemaskine, flyver
    Hypernym: luftfartøj

From Old Norse flýja (“to flee”), from Proto-Germanic *fleuhaną, cognate with English flee, German fliehen, Dutch vlieden.

fly (present flyr or flyer, past tense flyede, past participle flyet)

  1. (archaic) to flee
  2. (archaic) to shun

From Middle Low German vlī(g)en (“to stack, sort out”), cognate with Dutch vlijen (“to place”), from Proto-Germanic *flīhan, of unknown ultimate origin; possibly related to the root of *flaihijan (“to be sly, to flatter”), though the semantic gap is wide.[1]

fly (present flyr or flyer, past tense flyede, past participle flyet)

  1. (archaic) to hand, give

  2. ^ van der Sijs, Nicoline, editor (2010), “vlijen”, in Etymologiebank, Meertens Institute

Unadapted borrowing from English fly.

fly

  1. (ambitransitive, Malaysia, slang) to skip school or class (usually without permission)
    Synonym: ponteng (informal)
    Jom fly. ― Let's skip (this class).
    • 2019 April 14, Suraya Roslan, “[VIDEO] Kantoi ‘Fly’ Dari Sekolah Asrama, Aksi Pelajar Buat Netizen Pecah Perut”, in Lobak Merah‎[10], archived from the original on 3 July 2025:
      Dia punya bijak tu sampaikan nak keluar pun, pandai cari peluang untuk fly.
      They're so smart that even when they wants to go out, they cleverly finds a way to skip school.
    • 2025 April 29, @pepzeey, Tiktok‎[11], archived from the original on 3 July 2025:
      rindu nk fly kelas😔🙏🏻
      I miss skipping class😔🙏🏻

Short form of flygemaskin

fly n (definite singular flyet, indefinite plural **fly, definite plural flya or flyene)

  1. plane, aeroplane (UK), airplane (US), aircraft

From Old Norse fljúga.

fly (imperative **fly, present tense flyr, simple past fløy, past participle flydd or fløyet)

  1. to fly

Clipping of flygemaskin (“flying machine”).

fly n (definite singular flyet, indefinite plural **fly, definite plural flya)

  1. plane, aeroplane (UK), airplane (US), aircraft
    Skunda deg, elles misser du flyet ditt!
    Hurry up, or you'll miss your plane!

From Old Norse fljúga, from Proto-Germanic *fleuganą.

fly (present tense flyr or flyg, past tense flaug, supine floge, past participle flogen, present participle flygande, imperative **fly or flyg)

  1. (intransitive) to fly (to travel through air, another gas or a vacuum, without being in contact with a grounded surface)
  2. (transitive, ergative) to cause to fly: to transport via air or the like
  3. (intransitive) to run, move fast
  4. (intransitive, chiefly about farm animals) to be in heat, rutting

fly (masculine and feminine **fly, neuter flytt, definite singular and plural flye, comparative flyare, indefinite superlative flyast, definite superlative flyaste)

  1. very steep

fly n (definite singular flyet, indefinite plural **fly, definite plural flya)

  1. a very steep cliff

From Old Norse flýja, from Proto-Germanic *fleuhaną.

fly (present tense flyr, past tense flydde, past participle flytt/flydd, passive infinitive flyast, present participle flyande, imperative **fly)

  1. (intransitive) to escape; flee; run away
    Synonym: flykte
  2. (transitive) to escape from

Clipping of flygande (“flying”), present participle of fly.

fly

  1. (colloquial) Used as an intensifier for the word forbanna
    Han vart fly forbanna.
    (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Compare with flye n (“flying insect”) and English fly.

fly f (definite singular flya, indefinite plural flyer, definite plural flyene)

  1. small (flying) insect
  2. (fishing) bait

fly f (definite singular flya, indefinite plural flyer, definite plural flyene)

  1. specks
    Synonyms: rusk, grann

fly f (definite singular flya, indefinite plural flyer, definite plural flyene)

  1. mountain plateau
    Synonyms: vidde, fjellvidde

Uncertain, though may be related to flyta (“to float”).

fly n (definite singular flyet, indefinite plural **fly, definite plural flya)

  1. sump

Related to, or possibly a doublet of flø, from Old Norse flór.

fly (masculine and feminine **fly, neuter flytt, definite singular and plural flye, comparative flyare, indefinite superlative flyast, definite superlative flyaste)

  1. tepid

fly

  1. (slang, chiefly Doric) sneaky
    • 2013 November 12, Charley Buchan, Karen Barrett-Ayres, “A Fly Cup”, in Doric Voices‎[13], Robert Gordon University, archived from the original on 6 May 2018:
      Noo then, fa's for a fly cup?
      Now then, who's for a sneaky cup?

From Old Swedish flȳia, flȳa, from Old Norse flýja, from Proto-Germanic *fleuhaną.

fly (present flyr, preterite flydde, supine flytt, imperative **fly)

  1. to flee, to run away, to escape
    Med tårarna strömmande ned för sina kinder flydde hon undan de andra tjejernas glåpord.
    With tears streaming down her cheeks, she fled the taunting words of the other girls.
  2. to pass, to go by (of time)
    • 1964, Gunnel Vallquist, title of the new Swedish translation of Proust's À la recherche du temps perdu:
      På spaning efter den tid som flytt
      In Search of Lost Time
    • 1965, Sven-Ingvars, Börja om från början:
      Varför ska man sörja tider som har flytt?
      Why should one feel sorry for times that have passed?