fly
/flaɪ/ noun, verb, adjective, proper noun
Also a form of flay
Forms flies flying flew flown fliest flyest flewest flieth flyeth flys flied flyed flier flyer
- noun (zoology) Any insect of the order Diptera; characterized by having two wings (except for some wingless species), also called true flies.
- noun (non-technical) Especially, any of the insects of the family Muscidae, such as the common housefly (other families of Diptera include mosquitoes and midges).
- noun Those or any similar but not closely related insect, such as a dragonfly, butterfly, or gallfly.
- noun (fishing) A lightweight fishing lure resembling an insect.
- noun (weightlifting) A chest exercise performed by moving extended arms from the sides to in front of the chest. (also flye)
- noun (swimming) The butterfly stroke (plural is normally flys).
- noun (obsolete) A witch's familiar.
- noun (obsolete) A parasite.
- verb (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.”
- verb (intransitive) To take a flight on a plane; to pilot or crew a plane. “My airline needs me to get clearance before I can fly again.”
- verb (intransitive, entomology, of moths or butterflies) To be in the winged adult stage. “This species flies from late summer until frost.”
- verb (intransitive, colloquial, figurative, of a proposal, project or idea) To be accepted, come about or work out. “Let's see if that idea flies.”
- verb (transitive) 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.”
- verb (transitive) To arrange for someone to take a flight. “We flew the kids out to see their grandparents.”
- verb (transitive) To pilot a plane over a region or on a route. “This is the first time I flew the Pacific.”
- verb (transitive) To complete (a goal, task, mission, etc.) while crewing an aircraft or spacecraft.
- noun (obsolete) The action of flying; flight.
- noun An act of flying. “There was a good wind, so I decided to give the kite a fly.”
- noun (baseball) A fly ball.
- noun A piece of canvas that covers the opening at the front of a tent.
Synonyms
ascend aviate float flutter glide hover rise skim soar wing dissipate dart flit speed hurry zoom abscond escape flee tent-fly rainfly fly sheet tent flap fly front fly ball pilot fell vanish take flight vaporize
Antonyms
Etymology
From Middle English fflye, flehe, flei, fleie, fley, fleye, fleȝe, flie, fliȝe, flye, vliȝe, vlye, from Old English flēge, flēoge, flīeġe (“a fly”), from Proto-West Germanic *fleugā, from Proto-Germanic *fleugǭ (“a fly”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“to flow, fly, run; to splash”), enlargement of *plew- (“to flow, fly, run”).
Cognate with Scots flee, flei (“fly”), North Frisian fleeg (“fly”), Saterland Frisian Fljooge (“fly”), Alemannic German Flüüge (“fly”), Cimbrian blòiga, vlòiga (“fly”), Dutch vlieg (“fly”), German Fliege (“fly”), Low German Fleeg (“fly”), Vilamovian fłig, fłyjǵ (“fly”), Yiddish פֿליג (flig, “fly”), Danish and Norwegian Bokmål flue (“fly”), Faroese, Icelandic, and Swedish fluga (“fly”), Norwegian Nynorsk fluga, fluge, fluggu, flugu (“fly”).
From Middle English flei, fley, fleye, fleȝhenn, flien, fliȝe, flyen, flyyn, from Old English flēgan, flēogan, from Proto-West Germanic *fleugan, from Proto-Germanic *fleuganą (“to fly”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“to flow, fly, run; to splash”), enlargement of *plew- (“to flow, fly, run”). Compare Etymology 1.
Cognate with Scots flei (“to fly”), Yola vlee (“to fly”), North Frisian fli, fliin, fliine, fliinj, flä, fläie, flö (“to fly”), Saterland Frisian fljoge, fljooge (“to fly”), West Frisian fleane (“to fly”), Central Franconian fleeje (“to fly”), Dutch vliegen (“to fly”), Low German flegen (“to fly”), German fliegen (“to fly”), Luxembourgish fléien (“to fly”), Vilamovian fłig (“to fly”), Yiddish פֿליִען (flien, “to fly”), Danish flyve (“to fly”), Faroese fljúgva, flúgva (“to fly”), Icelandic fljúga (“to fly”), Norwegian Bokmål fly, flyge, flyve (“to fly”), Norwegian Nynorsk fljuga, fly, flyga, flyge (“to fly”), Scanian flyğa (“to fly”), Swedish flyga (“to fly”); also Cornish lew (“rudder”), Old Irish luí (“rudder”), Welsh llyw (“rudder”), Latin pluit, pluō (“to rain”), Ancient Greek πλέω (pléō, “to sail; to float”), Lithuanian plaukti (“to swim; to float”), Bulgarian пля́скам (pljáskam, “to slap; to clap; to splash; to jabber; to blemish”), Czech pleskat (“to slap; to flap, lap”), Macedonian плеска (pleska, “to slap”), Russian плеска́ть (pleskátʹ, “to splash”), Serbo-Croatian пље̏скати, pljȅskati (“to applaud; to slap”), Ukrainian плеска́ти (pleskáty, “to splash”), Armenian լուանալ (luanal), լվալ (lval), լվանալ (lvanal, “to wash”), Tocharian A and Tocharian B plu- (“to fly”), Sanskrit प्लु (plu, “to float; to sail”). More at flee and flow.
From Middle English flye (“flying, flight”), from Old English flyġe (“flying, flight”), from Proto-Germanic *flugiz.
Uncertain; probably from the verb or noun.
Webster’s 1913
- verb To move in or pass thorugh the air with wings, as a bird.
- verb To move through the air or before the wind; esp., to pass or be driven rapidly through the air by any impulse.
- verb To cause to fly or to float in the air, as a bird, a kite, a flag, etc. The brave black flag I fly. W. S. Gilbert.
- verb To fly or flee from; to shun; to avoid.
Etymology [OE. fleen, fleen, fleyen, flegen, AS. fleógan; akin to D. vliegen, ONG. fliogan, G. fliegen, Icel. flj, Sw. flyga, Dan. flyve, Goth. us- flaugjan to cause to fly away, blow about, and perh. to L. pluma feather, E. plume. Fledge, Flight, Flock of animals.]
Etymology [OE. flie, flege, AS. flge, fleóge, fr. fleógan to fly; akin to D. vlieg, OHG. flioga, G. fliege, Icel. & Sw. fluga, Dan. flue. Fly, v. i.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “fly”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details