fly
- noun
- /flaɪ/
- The fly landed on the window, trying to escape the house.
- fruit fly
- black flies
- flies and mosquitoes
There's been a little fly flying around my room for days.
- There's been a little fly flying around my room for days.
- You'll bring in white flies, spider mites.
Examples
-
UNDERWATER - CLOSE-UP: A brightly colored fly attached to a dangling fishing line.
Fiction book (1990) -
By not washing properly or keeping food in hygienic conditions, fingers, fluids, and flies can also contaminate food.
Academic text (2015) -
I think that this fly hurt me on my run.
-
It's a little fancy, but you see this fly, it's huge.
-
There's been a little fly flying around my room for days.
-
Everyone was relieved to be away from the dust and flies of the older villages.
Fiction book (1990) -
He couldn't hurt a fly.
-
All swarmed together like a bunch of flies, just waiting for someone to swat 'em.
-
Green Water ducked through, waving at the horde of flies, a slow smile coming to her face.
Fiction book (1990) -
A weak breeze ticked the crisp skeleton of a fly that lay on its side on the windowsill.
Fiction book (1990)
Synonyms
An insect with one pair of wings like a fly or mosquito
An insect with one pair of wings like a fly or mosquito
Idioms
Compounds
- Jargon
A caught fly ball that lets a player on base score while it puts the batter out
- Offensive
Not reliable and likely to disappear quickly, often for dishonest reasons
- South African
A large African fly that bites people and animals and causes sleeping sickness
A large fly with a shiny blue-green body that lays eggs on dead animals and in wounds
A small bright green beetle from southern Europe that makes a liquid causing blisters
- Specialized
The use of a special rod and line to throw a small fake fly into water to catch fish
A small insect like a moth whose young live in water and build protective cases from stones and plants
A small moth-like insect whose young live in water and build cases from pebbles and plants
A small insect with wings like a moth whose larvae live in water and build cases from sand and plants
A small moth-like insect whose young live in water and build cases from sand and plants
- Specialized
A very small wasp that lays eggs in other insects' eggs or young and helps control pests
A long thin fly with very long legs that looks like a large mosquito but does not bite
- Specialized
A fever people can catch from ticks, flies, or touching infected wild animals like rabbits
- Specialized
Large insect with a soft body and long jaws whose young live in water and are used as fishing bait
- Specialized
A North American bush with pale yellow flowers and berries eaten by birds
A winged insect like a dragonfly whose young dig small cone-shaped pits in sand to trap ants and other insects
A small shrub with pairs of yellowish-white flowers and bright red berries often grown in gardens
A poisonous mushroom with a bright red cap covered in white dots that grows in forests
A North American bush that loses its leaves in winter and has upright stems and pale yellow flowers
- Specialized
A small open deck above the ship's control room for steering and a better view
- Specialized
A narrow high platform at the side of a stage where crew use ropes to move scenery above it
- Specialized
A narrow high platform at the side of a stage where crew work with ropes and equipment
A small delicate insect with thin net-like wings whose young eat garden pests like aphids
A large tropical insect with bright colors and a long snout, once thought to give light
- Specialized
A slender insect with long legs that hangs from plants to catch other small insects
- Specialized
A wasp-like insect that lays eggs inside caterpillars so the young eat them
- Specialized
A large fast fly that catches other insects in the air and drinks their juices
- Offensive
A very revealing outfit that draws attention to the wearer's crotch area
An insect that eats insects, with a long beak and antennae, whose males have a curved tail like a scorpion
How Small
Surface Forms
Etymology
Fly the insect takes its name from the same old verb meaning 'to move in the air', so the small animal is called a fly because it moves by flying.