Meaning of fly | Babel Free

Definitions

1. Any insect of the order Diptera; characterized by having two wings (except for some wingless species), also called true flies.
2. A wing.
   Northern-England, Scotland
3. A river in Papua New Guinea
4. A surname.
5. The action of flying; flight.
   obsolete
6. Especially, any of the insects of the family Muscidae, such as the common housefly (other families of Diptera include mosquitoes and midges).
7. To attack fiercely; assault: The dogs flew at each other's throats.
8. An act of flying.
9. Any similar but not closely related insect, such as a dragonfly, butterfly, or gallfly.
10. To be elated: They were flying high after their first child was born.
11. A fly ball.
12. A lightweight fishing lure resembling an insect.
13. To become suddenly enraged: flew off the handle when the train was finally canceled.
14. Ellipsis of fly route.
    abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
15. A chest exercise performed by moving extended arms from the sides to in front of the chest. (also flye)
16. A detrimental circumstance or detail; a drawback.
17. A piece of canvas that covers the opening at the front of a tent.
18. The butterfly stroke (plural is normally flys).
19. a river in New Guinea, flowing SE from the central part to the Gulf of Papua, ab. 800 mi. (1290 km) long.
20. The sloping or roof part of the canvas of a tent.
    India, obsolete
21. A witch's familiar.
    obsolete
22. Any of numerous insects having one pair of wings and large compound eyes. Flies include the houseflies, horseflies, and mosquitoes. Many species feed on other insects or as scavengers.
23. A strip of material (sometimes hiding zippers or buttons) at the front of a pair of trousers, pants, underpants, bootees, etc.
    often, plural
24. A parasite.
    obsolete
25. – nou.
    nou
26. The free edge of a flag.
27. A simple dance in which the hands are shaken in the air, popular in the 1960s.
28. something that spoils one's enjoyment. vlieg in die salf شَيئٌ مُفْسِد للمُتْعَه тъмен облак в ясно небе inconveniente vada na kráse ein Haar in der Suppe skår i glæden; malurt i bægeret αναποδιά el único inconveniente tilk tõrva meepotis هر چیزی که کارایی چیز دیگری را کم کند mutka matkassa ombre au tableau אליה וקוץ בה मजा किरकिरा करने वाली कोई चीज smetnja, kvaka üröm az örömben pengacau ánægjuspillir una pecca ぶちこわし 흥을 깨는 것 šaukštelis deguto medaus statinėje darvas piliens medus mucā pengac...
29. The horizontal length of a flag.
30. A butterfly (combination of four options).
31. a strange flying object thought possibly to come from another planet. vlieënde piering صَحْن طائِر летяща чиния disco voador létající talíř die fliegende Untertasse flyvende tallerken ιπτάμενος δίσκος platillo volante lendav taldrik بشقاب پرنده lentävä lautanen soucoupe volante צַלַחַת מְעוֹפֶפֶת उड़न तश्तरी leteći tanjur repülő csészealj piring terbang fljúgandi diskur disco volante 空飛ぶ円盤 비행 접시 skraidančioji lėkštė lidojošais šķīvītis piring terbang vliegende schotel flygende tallerken lataj...
32. An exercise that involves wide opening and closing of the arms perpendicular to the shoulders.
33. a very short, often unexpected, visit. She paid her mother a flying visit. blitsbesoek زيارَه قصيره غَيْر مُتَوَقَّعَه неочаквано гости visita rápida letmá návštěva die Stippvisite fransk visit σύντομη επίσκεψη visita relámpago kiirvisiit دیدار کوتاه و سرزده pikavierailu saut בִּיקוּר חָטוּף कम समय की भेंट brzinski posjet villámlátogatás kunjungan singkat skyndiheimsókn breve visita 短い訪問 황급한 여행 trumpas apsilankymas īslaicīgs apmeklējums kunjungan singkat bliksembezoekfransk visitt, snartur pr...
34. The part of a weather vane pointing the direction from which the wind blows.
35. That part of a compass on which the points are marked; the compass card.
36. 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.
37. Ellipsis of flywheel.
    abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis
38. A type of small, light, fast horse-drawn carriage that can be hired for transportation (sometimes pluralised flys).
    historical
39. 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.
40. The pair of arms revolving around the bobbin, in a spinning wheel or spinning frame, to twist the yarn.
41. A shuttle driven through the shed by a blow or jerk.
42. The person who took the printed sheets from the press.
    historical
43. A vibrating frame with fingers, attached to a power printing press for doing the same work.
    historical
44. One of the upper screens of a stage in a theatre.
45. Waste cotton.

Equivalents

Examples

“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.”

“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.”

“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.”

“a trifling fly, none of your great familiars”

“The fly that plays too near the flame burns in it.”

“There was a good wind, so I decided to give the kite a fly.”

“[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.”

“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.”

“After I had changed my riding-habit for my one other gown, I came out to join the general under the tent-fly.”

“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”

“to the fly of the compass, which before was made equal, I was still constrained to put some small piece of wire on the south part there”

“A fly carried him rapidly to Lady Clavering’s house from the station […]”

“Can I get a fly, or a carriage of any kind? Is it too late? I dismissed the fly a mile distant from the park, and getting my directions from the driver, proceeded by myself to the house.”

“A glass coach, it may be as well to observe, is a carriage and pair hired by the day, and a fly a one-horse carriage hired in a similar manner.”

“As we left the house in my fly, which had been waiting, Van Helsing said:— ‘Tonight I can sleep in peace [...].’”

““[…] She takes the whole thing with desperate seriousness. But the others are all easy and jovial—thinking about the good fare that is soon to be eaten, about the hired fly, about anything.””

“And, driving back in the fly, Macmaster said to himself that you couldn't call Mrs. Duchemin ordinary, at least.”

“Then we read at New Southgate and Colney Hatch, that "Cabs are on stand at station from 9 a.m. to departure of last down train. Private omnibuses, flys and other conveniences can be had at short notice on application to Messrs. Walker & Son." At country stations we are often told, "a fly may be obtained on application to Mrs. Brown of the Black Dog," or some other cheery information.”

“Chepstow is good for excursions, and Bradshaw tells me I can get a fly to Tintern Abbey, although the fare structure seems particularly complicated. Alternatively, I could go for a simpler choice and just opt for "single horse, 1s", although I doubt I'd survive to tell the tale.”

“It was as if I been idling on a brightly lit stage-set of a country garden, ripe with every sort of pastoral fancy, and then had turned a flat and come on the stagehands and the wings, the propped sets, the men working in the flies—all the dark mechanics that produced the pretty picture the audience saw.”

“The bullet barely grazed the wild fowl's fly.”

“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.”

“[…] 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, […]”

“[…] to a white maple stake standing in a fly or swamp , thence N [...] to a Hemlock Stake, […]”

CEFR level