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dry fly

dry fly

1 6.7
A small fake insect that floats on the water to attract fish
  • noun
  • /draɪ flaɪ/
  • Specialized
translation icon : mosca seca
  • I do miss fishing with dry flies, though.
  • dry fly fishing
  • cast a dry fly
  • fish with dry flies

Examples

  • He tied his own dry fly lures to mimic the local insects.

  • I won't be abandoning my dry flies for just sakasa kebari, but I will be trying the single fly technique more often.

    Blog text (17)
  • The water is fishing pretty well with a dry fly.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • Then I guess those dry flies are gonna stay dry for a while.

  • As I mentioned above, my dry fly was a size 10 Yellow Stimulator, and for the record, I caught 6 fish on the dry!

    Blog text (28)
  • Like you, I'm primarily a dry fly fisherman.

    Blog text (17)
  • Fishing dry flies with a tenkara rod was so effective and fun that I was hard-pressed to try something different.

    Blog text (17)
  • The guide handed the old man his fishing gear—a bamboo fly rod with an old Pflueger reel and a tiny wooden box of dry flies.

    Fiction book (1997)
  • When fly fishing, I prefer using a dry fly to entice the fish at the surface.

  • Many anglers believe that the best technique for catching trout is using a dry fly on calm waters.

Synonyms

fly
vsdry fly
  • Specialized
55 7.9

A small artificial insect used to catch fish

is specific in floating on the water surface rather than being used under water

Antonyms

wet fly
  • Specialized
7.4

An artificial bait that sinks and moves below the water to attract fish

How Attractive

fish lure
2.8
dry fly
  • Specialized
1 6.7
bait
79 1.0

Surface Forms

dry fly singular
dry flies plural

Morphology

dry + fly

The noun is compositionally built from 'dry' (not wet) and 'fly' (a fly or fly-lure), so its sense as a fly that stays dry/ floats on the water surface is directly inferable from the parts. This follows regular English compounding patterns, so a B1 learner who knows both constituent meanings can reasonably predict the MWE's meaning (though precise fishing usage may need contextual confirmation).

Etymology

Dry fly comes from fishing: it is a small artificial fly that stays dry and floats on the surface like a real bug. Because it looks like a bug on top of the water, fishermen use it to tempt fish, so 'dry fly' means a floating fishing lure.