flies
4
8.7
- noun
- /flaɪz/
- Jargon
:
trampilla
- The crew worked in the flies to adjust the lighting and backdrops without disrupting the audience's view.
Examples
-
Have you read "Lord of the Flies"?
Blog text (4) -
Thirty-four identical essays on Lord of the Flies.
-
Upstairs, I found a copy of Lord of the Flies and felt mature to be reading it at age ten, judging the characters to be realistic, as opposed to the usual adult view of children as harmlessly blissful.
Fiction book (2001) -
The reputation of Chuck E. Cheese is that of a dirty, insane "Lord of the Flies" style free-for-all where kids behave awfully and parents pretend not to notice.
Blog text (14) -
Yes, teenagers are more prone to displaying the primal cruelty of "Mean Girls" and "Lord of the Flies" than their grown-up selves.
Blog text (4) -
The stage manager ensured that all the props were stored safely in the flies above the theater.
-
During the performance, the set pieces were quickly lifted into the flies to make room for the next scene.
Idioms
3
4.2
A distance measured in a straight line between two places rather than by road
- Informal
To not pay attention and miss what is happening around you, for example because you are daydreaming
Compounds
- Literature
1
6.6
A situation where people become violent and rules break down, like in the novel
Surface Forms
Etymology
The word flies comes from the verb fly, which once meant 'to move or be lifted quickly'. Stage crews used to fly scenery up into the space above the stage, so that area became known as the flies, the place where sets are kept out of sight.