fly-by-night
noun
Forms fly-by-nights
- noun A creature which flies at night; a nocturnal flier or traveler.
- noun (often attributive) One who departs or flees at night in order to avoid creditors, law enforcement etc. “Do not give your credit card number to that fly-by-night operation.”
- noun (idiomatic, derogatory) A person or business that appears and/or disappears rapidly, appearing untrustworthy, or giving an impression of transience.
- noun (idiomatic, derogatory) A traveling businessman or tradesman.
Synonyms
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 — from the Wiktionary entry “fly-by-night”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details