fly
- noun
- /flaɪ/
- The fly landed on the window, trying to escape the house.
- fruit fly
- black flies
- flies and mosquitoes
Loading YouTube…
Watch on YouTubeThere'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
- Offensive
Not reliable and likely to disappear quickly, often for dishonest reasons
A small bright green beetle from southern Europe that makes a liquid causing blisters
- Jargon
A caught fly ball that lets a player on base score while it puts the batter out
- 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
- Specialized
The use of a special rod and line to throw a small fake fly into water to catch fish
A poisonous mushroom with a bright red cap covered in white dots that grows in forests
- Specialized
A narrow high platform at the side of a stage where crew work with ropes and equipment
- Specialized
A winged insect that lives near streams and whose young live under stones in water
A small delicate insect with thin net-like wings whose young eat garden pests like aphids
A small insect with wings like a moth whose larvae live in water and build cases from sand and plants
A long thin fly with very long legs that looks like a large mosquito but does not bite
- Specialized
A South American herb with blue and white flowers and a papery round fruit
- Jargon
A fishing lure with long wings that extend past the hook to look like a small fish
An insect that eats insects, with a long beak and antennae, whose males have a curved tail like a scorpion
- Specialized
A hairy fly like a bee whose young insects make lumps under the skin of cows
- Specialized
A large fast fly that catches other insects in the air and drinks their juices
- US
A pale green fly that gives off a bad smell and whose young eat insects that harm plants
- Specialized
A small open deck above the ship's control room for steering and a better view
A winged insect like a dragonfly whose young dig small cone-shaped pits in sand to trap ants and other insects
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 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
- 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 small shrub with pairs of yellowish-white flowers and bright red berries often grown in gardens
A North American bush that loses its leaves in winter and has upright stems and pale yellow flowers
- Specialized
A narrow high platform at the side of a stage where crew use ropes to move scenery above it
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
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.