fly
verbEtymology
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. Cognates 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.
10 senses
- 1To travel through the air, another gas, or a vacuum…
- 2To flee, to escape (from).
- 3To cause to fly (travel or float in the air): to…
- 4To travel or proceed very fast; to hasten.
- 5To move suddenly, or with violence; to do an act…
- 6To proceed with great success.
- 7To be accepted, come about or work out.
- 8To display (a flag) on a flagpole.
- 9To hunt with a hawk.
- 10To be in the winged adult stage.
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.
- The Concorde flew from Paris to New York faster than any other passenger airplane.
4 more examples
- It takes about eleven hours to fly from Frankfurt to Hong Kong.
- The little fairy flew home on the back of her friend, the giant eagle.
- Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.1909, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Orthodoxy:
- The railway is still vital to Jordan's export trade, but in spite of the poor quality of the road, diesel lorries are gradually robbing it of freight traffic, and anyone who can afford to fly does so rather than face the long desert journey by rail.1956 March, R. C. Blaker, “The Hedjaz Railway”, in Railway Magazine, page 167:
- Fly, my lord! The enemy are upon us!
- [V]pon a ſodaine, / As Falſtaffe, ſhe, and I, are newly met, / Let them [children dressed like "urchins, ouphes and fairies"] from forth a ſaw-pit ruſh at once / With ſome diffuſed ſong: Vpon their ſight / We two, in great amazedneſſe will flye: […]c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merry Wiues of Windsor”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iv], page 56, column 1:
4 more examples
- to fly the favours of so good a kingc. 1604–1605 (date written), William Shakespeare, “All’s Well, that Ends Well”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene ii]:
- Fly, ere evil intercept thy flight.1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873, →OCLC:
- Sleep flies the wretch.1693, Decimus Junius Juvenalis, John Dryden, transl., “[The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis.] The Fourteenth Satyr”, in The Satires of Decimus Junius Juvenalis. Translated into English Verse. […] Together with the Satires of Aulus Persius Flaccus. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson […], →OCLC:
- And boyhood is a summer sun Whose waning is the dreariest one — For all we live to know is known And all we seek to keep hath flown — […]1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems:
Ergative 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.
- Why don’t you go outside and fly kites, kids? The wind is just perfect.
4 more examples
- Birds fly their prey to their nest to feed it to their young.
- Each day the postal service flies thousands of letters around the globe.
- The brave black flag I fly.1879, W[illiam] S[chwenck] Gilbert, Arthur Sullivan, composer, The Pirates of Penzance […], Philadelphia: J.M. Stoddart & Co., published 1880, →OCLC:
- A solar-powered unmanned aerial system (a UAS, more commonly called a drone) could fly long, lonely missions that conventional aircraft would not be capable of.2013 September 7, “On a bright new wing”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8852:
To travel or proceed very fast; to hasten.
- He flew down the hill on his bicycle.
- It's five o'clock already. Doesn't time fly?
3 more examples
- Fly, envious Time, till thou run out thy race.1645, John Milton, On Time:
- The dark waves murmured as the ship flew on.1870, William Cullen Bryant (translator), The Iliad (originally by Homer)
- After yet another missed penalty by Kvirikashvili from bang in front of the posts, England scored again, centre Tuilagi flying into the line and touching down under the bar.2011 September 18, Ben Dirs, “Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia”, in BBC Sport:
To move suddenly, or with violence; to do an act suddenly or swiftly.
- a door flies open
- a bomb flies apart
2 more examples
- And in respect of the great necessity there is, my darling, for more employments being within the reach of Woman than our civilisation has as yet assigned to her, don’t fly at the unfortunate men, even those men who are at first sight in your way, as if they were the natural oppressors of your sex […]1859 December 13, Charles Dickens, “The Mortals in the House”, in Charles Dickens, editor, The Haunted House. The Extra Christmas Number of All the Year Round […], volume II, London: […] C[harles] Whiting, […], →OCLC, page 7, column 1:
- I was upstairs, trying hastily to fix my face and unredden my eyes when I heard a car on the drive and flew to a window to make sure that it was David.1976, J. P. Reading, chapter 15, in Tanya, New York, N.Y.: Scholastic Book Services, →OCLC, page 174:
To proceed with great success.
- His career is really flying at the moment.
- One moment the company was flying high, the next it was on its knees.
Colloquial, Of a proposal To be accepted, come about or work out.
Project or idea
- Let's see if that idea flies.
- You know, I just don't think that's going to fly. Why don't you spend your time on something better?
Ergative To display (a flag) on a flagpole.
To hunt with a hawk.
- We'll fly the partridge, or go rouse the deer.c. 1590, Robert Greene, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay:
Biology, Entomology, Natural sciences To be in the winged adult stage.
Of a type of moth or butterfly
- This species flies from late summer until frost.
- Synonyms
- soar, hover, wing, skim, glide, ascend, rise, float, aviate, escape, flee, abscond, dart, flit, hurry, zoom
- Derived terms
195 terms
afly, as the crow flies, as the gull flies, as the raven flies, backspot flying fish, befly, build the plane while flying it, could eat the arse out of a low flying duck, could eat the crotch out of a low flying duck, could eat the crutch from a low flying duck, don't drive faster than your guardian angel can fly, fill and fly, flag-flying, flyable, fly a desk, fly and flop, fly apart, fly at, flyaway, flyback, fly baker, flybar, fly blind, fly bomb, flyboy, flybridge, fly by, flyby, fly-by-light, fly-by-night, fly-by-nighter, fly by the seat of one's pants, fly-by-wire, flycatch, flycatching, flycraft, flycrank, fly cutter, flyer, flyey, fly high, fly in, fly-in, fly-in fly-out, flying ace, flying army, flying bishop, flying bomb, flying brick, flying bridge, flying camp, flying car, flying carp, flying carpet, flying cat, flying circus, flying coffin, flying colors, flying colours, flying disc, flying disc golf, flying doctor, flying dragon, flying fig, flying freehold, flying frog, flying fuck, flying ginny, flying gurnard, flying handkerchief, flying helmet, flying jenny, flying jib, flying jib boom, flying kiss, flying knee, flying lap, flying lemur, flying machine, flying mare, flying meet, flying monkeys, flying mouse, flying ointment, flying party, flying phalanger, flying picket, flying purple people-eater, flying purple people eater, flying rat, flying rod, flying rowan, flying saucer group, flying school, flying shot, flying sport, flying stationer, flying toilet, flying wedge, flying white, flying wing, fly in the face of, fly into, fly low, fly off, flyoff, fly off the shelves, flyout, fly out, fly out of the blocks, fly out of the traps, flyover, fly-over, fly-past, flypast, fly-pitch, fly-pitcher, flypost, fly-poster, fly-posting, fly the blue pigeon, fly the coop, fly the flag, fly the freak flag, fly the kite, fly the nest, fly-through, flythrough, fly-tip, fly-tipper, fly-tipping, fly too close to the sun, fly-under, flyunder, fly under the radar, fly up, fly upon, flyway, flywheel, fly with leaden wings, fly without a licence, flyworthy, free-fly, fur-flying, give a flying fuck, go fly a kite, high-flying, if pigs had wings, they would fly, in flying colors, in flying colours, Japanese flying squid, keep the flag flying, kiss and fly, kite flying, let fly, make the dust fly, make the feathers fly, make the fur fly, Malabar flying frog, Malaysian flying lemur, monkeys might fly out of my butt, non-flying, outfly, overfly, Philippine flying lemur, pigs can fly, pigs may fly, pigs might fly, pilot flying, pilot not flying, refly, Siberian flying squirrel, sparks fly, speed flying, straighten up and fly right, Sunda flying lemur, take a flying fuck at a rolling donut, take a flying fuck at a rolling doughnut, take a flying leap, test-fly, the feathers fly, the fur flies, time flies, time flies like an arrow, fruit flies like a banana, time flies when you're having fun, unidentified flying object, upfly, watch the feathers fly, watch the fur fly, when pigs can fly, when pigs fly, with flying colors, with flying colours, yogic flying- Related terms
- fly agaric, flight
- Hyponyms
- fly a kite, flying cone, fly into a rage, fly like a bird, fly like a rock, fly like the wind, fly off the handle, fly out the window, fly solo, overfly