fluxive 
These [letters 1 often bathed she ill herflit.cire eyes. 
Shale., Lover's Complaint, 1. 50. 
There arguments are as fluxiee as liquor spilt upon a 
table. !> Jonsoti, Discoveries. 
flux-spoon (fluks'spou), . A small ladle for 
dipping up a sample of molten metal for test- 
ing. 
fluxure (fluk'sur), it. [< 'L.fliixiiru, a flowing, 
< flu.ru>!, pp. of flitcre, flow: see flits.] 1. The 
quality of being fluid. B.Joxson. 2. Aflowing 
or fluid matter: as, a fluxure from a wound. 
fluxweed (nuks'wed), n. A name given to va- 
rious plants used as remedies for dysentery. 
flyl (fli), v. ; pret. flew, pp. flmrn, ppr. flying. 
[Early mod. E. also flie, flye ; < ME. flijen,flien, 
fligeii,fleyeu,flegeH,fleen,fleon,flon,fleogen, etc. 
(pret. flez, fleh, flash, flali, flag, fley, fleiy, fleyghe, 
fligh, flete, fluwe, etc., pi. flitgcn, flogen, flowen, 
fluwcn, flow, etc.), fly, < AS. fleogan, fliogan 
(pret. fledg, fledlt, pi. flagon, pp. flogen), fly, 
rarely (by confusion with fledn) flee, = OPries. 
ftin<ja, NFries.flega = D. vliegen = MLG. vlegen, 
LG. flegen = OHG. fliogan, MHG. vliegen, G. 
fliegen = Icel. fljiiga = Norw.fljiiga = Sw. flyga 
= I>an. flyve, fly, = Goth. *fliugu>i, inferred from 
derived factitive flaugjan in comp. us-flaiii/jiin, 
drive about, lit. cause to fly about, as the wind 
does light substances. The common Teut. root 
is "flag, the word being quite different from flee 1 , 
AS. fledn, etc., Goth, thliuluiu, Teut. / *thluh, 
with which, however, it has been partly con- 
fused from the AS. period: see fleel. Hence 
fly 1 , n., fly 2 , fledge = flidge = flisli, fluslft = 
fly*, and flay 2 = Sc. fley, fleg.] I. intrans. 1. 
To move through the air by the aid of wings, 
as birds. 
And feblest foule of flyght is that fleeijheth or swymmeth ; 
And that is the pekok and the pohenne ; proilde riche men 
thei bitokneth. Piers Plowman (B), xii. 239. 
Ye wish they had held themselves longer In, and not so 
dangerously flown abroad before the feathers of the cause 
had been grown. Hooker, Eccles. Polity, Pref., viii. 
From that which highest flew to that which lowest crept. 
Drayton, Polyolbion, ii. 154. 
Havens, crows, and kites 
Flu o'er our heads, and downward look on us. 
Shak., J. C., T. 1. 
2. To pass or move in air by the force of wind 
or any other impulse : as, clouds fly before the 
wind ; a ball^ies from a cannon, an arrow from 
a bow ; the explosion made the gravel fly. 
As, forc'd from wind-guns, lead itself can fly, 
And ponderous slugs cut swiftly through the sky. 
Pope, Dunciad, i. 181. 
Quick flew the shuttle from her arm of snow. 
William Morris, Earthly Paradise, I. 151. 
Then the blue 
Bullets flew, 
And the trooper-jackets redden at the touch of the leaden 
Rifle-breath. 
G. II. McMaster, Carmen Bellicosum. 
3. To rise, spring, shoot, or be cast in air, as 
smoke, sparks, or other light objects. 
His falchion on a flint he softly smiteth, 
That from the cold stone sparks of flre do flu. 
Shak., Lucrece, 1. 177. 
Their [martyrs'] ashes flew 
No marble tells us whither. Cowper, Task, v. 726. 
4. To move or pass with swiftness or alacrity; 
go rapidly or at full speed ; rush ; dart : as, to 
fly to the relief of a distressed friend; the ship 
flies before the wind ; recriminations^eic about. 
The Sarazin, sore daunted with the buffe, 
Suatcheth his sword, and fiercely to him fliei. 
Spenser, F. Q., I. ii. 17. 
Madam, if you bid me go, I will run ; if you bid me run, 
I'll fly (if I can) upon your errand. Howell, Letters, ii. 65. 
Only this I know, that Calms are very frequent there 
[near the linej, as also Tornadoes and sudden Gusts, in 
which the Winds fly in a moment quite round the Com- 
pass. Dampier, Voyages, II. iii. 25. 
Fool ! knave ! and dunce ! 
Flew back and forth, like strokes of pencil 
In a child's fingers. Lowell, Oriental Apologue. 
5. To depart suddenly or swiftly ; take flight ; 
escape 5 flee : as, the rogue has flown; his for- 
tune will soon fly. 
Mark Antony is in your tents, my lord ! 
Fly therefore, noble Cassius, fly far off. 
Shak., J. C., v. 3. 
Wouldst thou then be free from envy and scorn, from 
anger and strife, fly from the occasions of them. 
Bp. Atterbury, Sermons, I. x. 
Where, my deluded sense, was reason flown ? 
Where the high majesty of David's throne? 
Prior, Solomon, ii. 
Heaven's light forever shines, earth's shadows fly. 
Shelley, Adonais, Iii. 
6. To part suddenly or with violence ; burst or 
be rent into fragments or shreds : as, the bottle 
flew into a thousand pieces ; the sail flew in tat- 
ters. 
2293 
The splintcr'd spear-shafts crack and fly. 
Tennyson, Sir Galahad. 
"O bubble world, 
Whose colours in a moment break and fly ! " 
Why, who said that? I know not true emmuh : 
Tennyson, Queen Mary, v. 2. 
< Ivcrheated steel is apt to fly or crack in hardening. 
Morgan, Mining Tools, p. 55. 
7. To flutter ; wave or play, as a flag in the 
wind. 
High in the air Britannia's standard flies. 
Pope, Windsor Forest, 1. 110. 
Soon as soft vernal breezes warm the sky, 
Britannia's colours in the zephyrs fly. 
Addiion, The Campaign. 
White sails flying on the yellow sea. 
Tennyson, Geraint. 
8. To be evanescent; fade; disappear: said 
of colors : as, that color is sure to fly when the 
fabric is washed. [Colloq.] 9. To hunt with 
a falcon; hawk. 
We'll e'en to 't like French falconers, fly at anything we 
see. Shak., Hamlet, ii. 2. 
A flying moor (naut.). See moor*. As the crow flies. 
See crow-. Flying adder. Same as adder-fly. Flying 
blister, bridge, buttress, dustman, Dutchman, etc. 
Seethe nouns. Flying column, in her. , a bearing repre- 
senting a short column or pillar with wings. Flying jib, 
sap, etc. See the nouns. To come off with flying col- 
ors, to succeed or triumph : in allusion to the carrying of 
unfurled Hags by troops. To fly about(nmrf.), to change 
direction frequently: said of the wind. To fly around. 
See to fly round. to fly at, to spring or rush at with 
hostile intention : as, a hen flies at a dog or a cat ; a dog 
flies at a man. To fly at the brookt, to hunt water-fowl 
with hawks. 
Believe me, lords, tor flying at the brook, 
I saw not better sport these seven years' day. 
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., ii. 1. 
To fly in the face of. (a) To insult, (b) To resist ; set at 
defiance ; oppose with violence ; act in direct opposition to. 
Fly in nature's face, 
But how if nature;?!/ in my face first? 
Then nature's the aggressor. 
Dryden, Spanish Friar. 
Their [men's] Consciences still fly in their facet, and re- 
buke them sharply for their sins. 
StUlingfleet, Sermons, I. ii. 
To fly light, to sail, as a ship, with but little cargo or bal- 
last. To fly Off. (a) To depart suddenly ; run away. 
'Tis a poor courage 
Flies off for one repulse. 
Fletcher, Wildgoose Chase, iv. 1. 
((it) To revolt, (c) To evaporate or volatilize. 
The metallic oxide is combined with a volatile acid, like 
the acetic, which flies off and leaves it insoluble in the 
fibre. O'Neill, Dyeing and Calico Printing, p. 351. 
To fly Off the handle, to go beyond bounds in speech or 
action ; be carried away by excitement or passion ; break 
out or away from constraint of any kind : from the flying 
off the handle of a loose hammer-head when a blow is 
struck with it. [Colloq., U. S.] 
When I used to tell minister this, as he was flying off' 
the handle, he'd say, Sam, you're as correct as Euclid, but 
as cold and dry. 
Ilaliburton (Sam Slick), Human Nature, p. 149. 
To fly on (theat.), to move on side-scenes quickly in 
changing a scene in sight of the audience. To fly open, 
to open suddenly or freely : as, the doors flew open. 
No door but flies open to her, her presence is above a 
charm. B. Jonson, Cynthia's Revels, ii. 1. 
To fly out. (a) To rush or dart out. (d) To break out in 
anger, uproar, or license. 
They (the apostles] never fly out into any extravagant 
passion, never betray any weakness or fear. 
StUlingfleet, Sermons, I. ix. 
So you will fly out ! Can't you be cool like me ? What 
the devil good can passion do ? Sheridan, The Rivals, ii. 1. 
To fly round or around, to be active or bustling ; move 
briskly. [Colloq., U. S.] 
Come, gals, fly round, and let's get Mrs. Clavers some 
supper. A Sew Home, p. 13. 
Lawyer Dean he flew round like a parched pea on a 
shovel. //. B. Stowe, Oldtown, p. 44. 
To fly upon, (a) To pounce upon ; seize. 
And the people flew upon the spoil. 1 Sam. xiv. 32. 
(d) To assail ; abuse. 
David sent messengers out of the wilderness to salute 
our master ; and he railed on them [margin, flew upon 
them]. 1 Sam. xxv. 14. 
To let fly. (<0 Absolutely, to make an attack or assault ; 
with an object, to discharge ; throw, drive, or utter with 
violence : as, to let fly a stone ; he let fly a torrent of abuse. 
Whose arrows made these wounds? speak, or, by Dian, 
Without distinction I'll let fly at ye all ! 
Fletcher, Sea Voyage, ii. 2. 
They, therefore, in angry manner, let fly at them again, 
counting them as bad as the men in the cage. 
Bunyan, Pilgrim's Progress, p. 156. 
(b) Naut., to let go suddenly: as, let fly the sheets. To 
make the feathers (or fur) fly, to make an effective as- 
sault or attack ; produce great confusion, disturbance, or 
damage by a vigorous onslaught, as with tongue or pen, 
or by physical force : in allusion to the flying of a bird's 
feathers or of an animal's fnr when struck by shot. 
II. trans. 1. To cause to move through or 
float in the air : as, to fly carrier-pigeons ; to 
fly a flag or a kite. 
fly 
He make a match with you ; inecte me to morrow 
At Chevy-Chase ; lie flye, my Hawke with yom>. 
T. llri/irnud, Woman Killed with Kindncsa. 
2f. To attack by the flight of a falcon or hawk; 
fly at. 
If a man can tame this monster, and bring her to feed 
ut the hand, and govern her, and with her jly other ra- 
M-niiiK fowl ami kill them, it is somewhat worth. 
Bacon, Fragment of an Essay on Fame (ed. 1887). 
Flu everything you see to the mark, and censure it 
freely. B. Jonnon, Magnetick Lady, Ind. 
The Parliament flying upon several Men, and then let- 
ting them alone, does as a Hawk that Ayes a Covey of 
Partridges. Selden, Table-Talk, p. 80. 
3. To flee from; shun; avoid as by flight ; get 
away from: as, to Jly the sight of one we hate. 
This is not well, rash and unbridled boy, 
To //'/ the favours of so good a king. 
Shak., All's Well, ill. 2. 
Costly Apparel let the Fair One Jly. 
Congreve, tr. of Ovid's Art of Love. 
To fly out Of the hood, in falconry, to unhood and slip 
when the quarry is in sight. 
Falcons or long-winged hawks are either flown out of the 
huod, ... or they are made to wait on till game is flushed. 
Encye. Brit., IX. 9. 
To fly the kite, to obtain money on notes or accommoda- 
tion bills : in allusion to keeping such paper flying about as 
children do a kite. (Commercial slang.] To fly the red 
flag, to spout blood, as a whale. 
flyl (fli), n. ; pi. flies (fliz). [In def. 1, < ME. 
flye, < AS. flyge, flight, < fle6gan (pp. flogen), 
fly; in other senses from the modern verb: 
see jfty 1 , .] 1. The act of flying, or passing 
through the air; flight. [Obsolete or rare.] 
The Egle is frikest fowle in flye, 
Ouer all fowles to wawe hys wenge. 
Holy Rood (ed. Morris), p. 221. 
'Twas an easy */ ; the chariot [a car borne by owls] soon 
descended upon the crest of a hill. 
Diiraeli, Imperial Marriage, iii. 3. 
2. A state of flying: in the phrase on the fly 
(which see, below). 3. Something having a 
rapid or flying motion, or some relation to such 
motion, (a) In mech. : (1) An arrangement of vanes on 
a revolving axis to regulate the motion of clockwork by 
the impact of the vanes against the air ; a fanner : now 
chiefly used in musical boxes and the striking parts of 
clock-machinery. (2) Some contrivance for regulating 
the motion of machinery, as a fly-wheel, or cross-arms 
loaded at the ends with heavy weights, and placed at right 
angles to the axis of a windlass, jack, or the like. See 
fly-wheel. Also called fly-governor, (b) In printing, a con- 
trivance for receiving and delivering separately printed 
sheets as they are printed on a press. The common form 
is an open framework of rods of wood, swinging in a 
quarter-circle on a rocking shaft, at the tail of a print- 
ing-press. Also called flier, (c) In weaving, a shuttle with 
wheels driven through the shed by a blow or jerk, (d) In 
knitting-machines, a piece for holding the needle in posi- 
tion while passing through a new loop. Also called a latch. 
() In a spinning-frame, one of the arms that revolve round 
the bobbin and twist the yarn as it ia wound upon it. See 
flier, 4 (b). (f) That part of a vane which points and shows 
which way the wind blows, (g) In base-ball and cricket, a 
ball knocked or thrown high in the air. (A) (1) The extent 
of an ensign, flag, or pendant from the staff to the waving 
end, or, in a banner hanging from a cross-yard, the length 
vertically from the yard downward. (2) The outer or loose 
flying end in general, as distinguished from the part near 
the mast or yard. 
The part of a flag furthest from the point of suspension 
is called the fly. Encyc. Brit., IX. 278. 
4. pi. In a theater, the large space above the pro- 
scenium, extending over the whole of the stage, 
and including the borders, border-lights, many 
ropeB, cleats, and pulleys, the beams to which 
these are attached, and the fly-galleries on either 
side from which the borders and drop-scenes 
are handled. 5. A piece of canvas drawn over 
the ridge-pole of a tent, doubling the thickness 
of the roof, but not in contact with it except 
at the ridge-pole. 6. The flap or door of a 
tent. 
Two or three Indians approached, peered through the 
fly, and then came in. The Century, XXV. 195. 
7. A strip of material sewed to a garment, but 
differing from a flounce in being drawn straight 
without gathering, and usually serving some 
purpose other than mere ornament. Thus, in 
some coats the buttonholes are inserted in a fly, so that 
the buttons do not show when the coat is buttoned ; some- 
times the fly is sewed on beneath the buttonholes. 
8. In cotton-spinning, waste cotton. 9. The 
hinged board which covers the keys of a piano 
or an organ when not in use Fly of the mariners' 
compass* , the compass-card. On the fly, during flight ; 
while still in the air ; before reaching the ground : as, to 
shoot a bird mi the fly ; to catch a ball on the fly. 
fly 2 (fli), w. ; pi., except in sense 6, flies (fliz). 
[Early mod. E.also flie,flye; < ME. flye, flic, flee, 
fle,fley,flei, flege, fleoge, etc., < AS.fleoge, a fly 
(L. muscn), = D. vlieg = MLG. rlege, LG. flege = 
OHG. flioga, MHG. vliege, G. fliege, also (with 
umlaut) OHG. flhiga, MHG. fliuge, G. fleuge = 
(with short vowel) Icel. fluga = Sw. fliiga = 
Dan. flue, a fly; < fleogan, E. fly*: aeeflyl, v.] 
