fly

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Contents

English [edit]

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Pronunciation [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

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From Old English flȳġe, flēoge. Cognate with Scots flee, Dutch vlieg, German Fliege, Swedish fluga.

Noun [edit]

A fly (insect)

fly (plural flies)

  1. (zoology) Any insect of the order Diptera; characterized by having two wings, also called true flies.
    • 2012 January 1, Douglas Larson, “Runaway Devils Lake”, 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).
  3. Any similar, but unrelated insect such as dragonfly or butterfly.
  4. (fishing) A lightweight fishing lure resembling an insect.
  5. (weightlifting) A chest exercise performed by moving extended arms from the sides to in front of the chest. (also flye)
Derived terms [edit]
Terms derived from the noun "fly"


Translations [edit]
insect of the order Diptera
insect of the family Muscidae
fishing lure
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Etymology 2 [edit]

From Middle English flien, from Old English flēogan, from Proto-Germanic *fleuganą (compare Saterland Frisian fljooge, Dutch vliegen, Low German flegen, German fliegen, Danish flyve), from Proto-Indo-European *pleuk-, *pleu-k- (cf. Lithuanian plaũkti ‘to swim’), enlargement of *pleu- ‘flow’. More at flow.

Verb [edit]

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.
    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 Hongkong.
    The little fairy flew home on the back of her friend, the giant eagle.
  2. (intransitive) (archaic) (poetic) To flee, to escape.
    Fly, my lord! The enemy are upon us!
  3. (transitive, ergative) To cause to fly (travel by air or the like): 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 post flies thousands of letters around the globe.
    Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly. - G. K. Chesterton
  4. (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?
  5. (intransitive) To travel very fast.
    • 2011 September 18, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia”, 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.
Synonyms [edit]
Antonyms [edit]
Derived terms [edit]
Terms derived from the verb to fly
Related terms [edit]
Translations [edit]
to travel through air
to flee
to cause to travel through the air
to become accepted
The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables, removing any numbers. Numbers do not necessarily match those in definitions. See instructions at Help:How to check translations.
Translations to be checked

Noun [edit]

fly (plural flies)

  1. (obsolete) The action of flying; flight.
  2. An act of flying.
    We had a quick half-hour fly back into the city.
  3. (baseball) A fly ball.
  4. (historical) A type of small, fast carriage (sometimes pluralised flys).
    • 1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, Folio Society 2008, p. 124:
      As we left the house in my fly, which had been waiting, Van Helsing said:— ‘Tonight I can sleep in peace [...].’
  5. A piece of canvas that covers the opening at the front of a tent.
  6. A strip of material hiding the zipper, buttons etc. at the front of a pair of trousers, pants, or underpants.
  7. The free edge of a flag.
  8. The horizontal length of a flag.
  9. butterfly a form of swimming
  10. (weightlifting) Exercises that evolve wide opening and closing of the arms perpendicular to the shoulders
Derived terms [edit]
Derived terms
Translations [edit]
act of flying
fly ball — see fly ball
type of small, fast carriage
piece of canvas that covers the opening of a tent
strip that hides the opening of trousers/pants or underpants
free edge of a flag
horizontal length of a flag

Verb [edit]

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.
Translations [edit]
to hit a flyball

Etymology 3 [edit]

Origin uncertain; probably from the verb or noun.

Adjective [edit]

fly (comparative flier, superlative fliest)

  1. (slang, dated) Quick-witted, alert, mentally sharp, smart (in a mental sense).
    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. (Charles Dickens, "Arcadia"; Household Words Vol.7 p.381)
  2. (slang) Well dressed, smart in appearance.
    He's pretty fly for a white guy.
  3. (slang) Beautiful; displaying physical beauty.
Translations [edit]
quick-witted
well dressed

Danish [edit]

Etymology 1 [edit]

From Norwegian fly, an abbreviation of flyvemaskin (“airplane”).

Noun [edit]

fly n (singular definite flyet, plural indefinite fly)

  1. airplane
Synonyms [edit]
Inflection [edit]
    Inflection of fly
neuter gender Singular Plural
indefinite definite indefinite definite
nominative, dative and accusative fly flyet fly flyene
genitive flys flyets flys flyenes

Etymology 2 [edit]

From Old Norse flýja (“flee”).

Verb [edit]

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

  1. flee
  2. shun

Etymology 3 [edit]

From late Old Norse fligja, flygja, from Middle Low German vlīen, vlīgen (“stack, sort out”).

Verb [edit]

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

  1. hand, give

Norwegian Bokmål [edit]

Pronunciation [edit]

  • IPA: /fɽyː/ or IPA: /flyː/

Noun [edit]

fly n (definite singular flyet; indefinite plural fly; definite plural flya/flyene)

  1. airplane

Verb [edit]

fly (present tense flyr; past tense flydde; past participle flydd)

  1. fly

Swedish [edit]

Etymology [edit]

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

Pronunciation [edit]

Verb [edit]

fly

  1. to flee, to run away, to escape
    Fångarna försökte fly från fängelset.
    The prisoners tried to escape from jail.
    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 past?

Conjugation [edit]

Conjugation of fly
Active Passive
Infinitive fly flys
Present tense flyr flys
Past tense flydde flyddes
Supine flytt flytts
Imperative fly —
Present participle flyende
Past participle flydd

Related terms [edit]

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