gadfly
English
Etymology
Pronunciation
Audio (AU): (file)
Noun
gadfly (plural gadflies)
- Any dipterous insect of the family Oestridae, commonly known as botflies.
- Synonym: botfly
- Coordinate term: warble fly
- A horsefly: any of various species of fly, of the family Tabanidae, noted for buzzing about animals and sucking their blood.
- Synonyms: horsefly, stoat-fly, stout
- Coordinate term: warble fly
- 2005, Rafael Argullol, The End of the World as a Work of Art: A Western Story, Bucknell University Press (→ISBN), page 48:
- Vengeful Hera transformed her into an animal (a beautiful cow), and imposed upon her the company of a gadfly to sting her continuously, thus forcing her to escape on an endless pilgrimage.
- (figurative) One who upsets the status quo by posing upsetting or novel questions, or attempts to stimulate innovation by proving an irritant.
- 2012, Andrew Martin, Underground Overground: A passenger's history of the Tube, Profile Books, →ISBN, pages 26, 27:
- What was required now was the intervention of some men who were not gadflies. [...] The logic of Pearson's arguments was accepted, up to a point, by a consortium of businessmen. In August 1854 [...] the consortium obtained royal assent for [...] the Metropolitan Railway. [...] In 1859, when it looked as though the Metropolitan Railway Company would be wound up with no line built, he [Charles Pearson] wrote a pamphlet: [...]. Gadfly he may have been, but by this 'letter' he persuaded the Corporation of London to invest £200,000 in the line, a most unusual example of a public body investing in a Victorian railway.
- (derogatory) One who merely irritates without making useful suggestions.
- (derogatory, slang) A bloodsucker; a person who takes without giving back.
- Synonyms: bloodsucker; see also Thesaurus:scrounger
- He's a regular gadfly and takes advantage of his friend's generosity.
Translations
fly of the family Oestridae — see botfly
fly of the family Tabanidae — see horsefly
one who upsets the status quo
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one who merely irritates
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slang: bloodsucker
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