fly 
1. Iu popular language, a flying insect of any 
common kind. 
Thou wille be flayede for a flye that one Ion] thy flesche 
lyghttes ! Marie Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 2441. 
There came a grievous swarm of flies into the house of 
Pharaoh . . . and into all the land of Egypt. Ex. viii. 24. 
2. In cntom., a two-winged insect; any ouo of 
the order Diptcra, and especially of the family 
Mnscidce: commonly used with a qualifying or 
specific term: as, the house-fly, Miisea tltin:t- 
tiea. See the compounded words. 
As Aies to wanton Ixjys are we to the gods ; 
They kill us for their sport. Sltak., Lear, iv. 1. 
3. A fish-hook dressed with silk, tinsel, feathers, 
or other material, so as to resemble a fly or other 
insect, and used by anglers to entice fish. 
Is it not ati art to deceive a Trout with au artificial Fly? 
I. Walton, Complete Angler, p. 36. 
Nor is it yet settled that by imitating the natural insect 
you gain any advantage ; one-half the most skillful fish- 
ermen assert that the iln . . . need resemble nothing on 
earth or in the waters under the earth. 
Ji. B. Kooteeelt, Game Fish, p. 266. 
4f. A familiar spirit: apparently a cant term 
with those who pretended to deal in magic and 
similar impostures. 
Brought me th' intelligence in a paper here, . . . 
I have myflys abroad. 
. Jonson, Alchemist, iii. 2. 
Even the shape of a fly was a favourite one with evil 
spirits, so much so, that the term fly was a popular syno- 
nym for a familiar. Thistleton Dyer, Folk-Lore, p. 54. 
5. Figuratively, an insignificant thing; a thing 
of no value. 
The ground and foundation of faith without which had 
ready before, al the spiritual cumfort that any man may 
speake of, can neuer auaile nflie. 
Sir T. More, Cumfort against Tribulation (1573), fol. 7. 
6. PI. flys (fliz). [Usually referred directly to 
the verb flyl, and defined as "a light carriage 
formed for rapid motion " ; but this is not borne 
out by the first use of the name (see first extract). 
The name seems to have been a fanciful appli- 
cation of fly%, an insect.] A kind of quick-run- 
ning carriage ; a light vehicle for passengers ; a 
hackney-coach. 
A nouvelle kind of four-wheeled vehicles drawn by a 
man and an assistant ; . . . they are denominated flat, 
a name first given by a gentleman at the Pavilion [at 
Brighton, England] upon their first introduction in 1810. 
Wright's Brighton Ambulator, 1818. (Davie.) 
When the poor, old, broken-down fly drove up, and the 
portmanteaus were taken down, . . . the two timid young 
people stepped out of the mouldy old carriage. 
Mrs. Oliphant, Poor Gentleman, xviii. 
Berna fly, a species of Ti-ypeta (which see). Black fly, 
any one of the species of the genus Sinmlium, some of 
which are extraordinarily abundant in the northern woods 
of America, and cause great suffering by their bites. 
Camel-necked flies. See camel-necked. East India 
fly, a species of vesicatory fly, much larger than the com- 
mon cantharis. Golden-eyed fly, any tabanid of the ge- 
nus Chrysopx (which see). Green-beaded fly, Tabaniu* 
litifola. Hessian fly, a destructive insect, Cfcidomyia 
destructor, supposed to have been introduced during the 
revolutionary war by the Hessian troops, and now the most 
serious enemy of wheat ill America. This fly is a small 
dusky midge, and ita larva is a yellowish or reddish uiag- 
Hessian Fly {Ctcidentyia tifstructor). 
a, larva . i>, pupa; < . infested stalk of wheat. 
got. There are two broods annually, the first laying eggs 
in April or May, the second in September. The remedies 
are late sowing, or sometimes sowing a small patch early 
to serve as a trap, pasturing with sheep in November, and 
sowing hardy varieties, such as the Underbill Mediterra- 
nean wheat, especially the Lancaster variety. Onion-fly, 
Anthomyia cepantm, the larva of which is known as the 
Tall-fly, in (i wiling, the fly at the end of the leader. See 
fly-line?. To cast the fly. See casti. To rise to the 
fly, to be attracted by au artificial fly when it is ottered 
as a lure : said of some fishes, in contradistinction to 
others which take sunken bait only. To tie a fly, to dress 
a hook so that it shall resemble a fly. White fly. (a) The 
common name of Bibio albipeniius about the great lakes 
of the United States, (b) An ephemerid; a shad-fly, May- 
fly, or day-fly. [Local, U. S.) (See also cabbage-fly, forett- 
fly, hand-fly, radish-fly, robber-fly, xaw-fly, stretcher-fly, etc.) 
fly 2 (fli), v. ; pret. and pp. flied, ppr. flying. [< 
fly%, n., 6.] I. trans. To convey in a fly. 
2294 
Tuesday, Poole flitd us all the way to Sir T. Ackl.iiul's 
Sniiii-rsetshire seat. fimilhey. Letters, III. 47S. 
II. iii trans. To travel by a fly. Duties. 
We then/lfed to Stogursey just to see the Church. 
Southey, Letters, III. 478. 
fly 3 (fli), a. [Early mod. E. also flee; another 
form of fledge, flitlge, flixli, flitsli^, etc., through 
dial, flig, < ^lK.fligge,flyggc, able to fly, fledged 
(hence able to shift for oneself, knowing) ; 
ult. < fly*, v. : see fledge and fluslfi.~] Know- 
ing ; wide-awake ; quick to take one's meaning 
or intention: as, &fly young man. [Slang.] 
"Do what I want, and I will pay you well." ... "I 
am fly," says Jo. Dickens, Bleak House, xvi. 
" I want to tell you that " . . . "Shut up ! " replied 
the police official, " you are too fly. I've had hundreds of 
cases like yours." Philadelphia Titnes, Aug. 15, 1883. 
fly* (fli), n. See vly. 
fly-agaric (fli'a-gar'ik), . A species of mush- 
room, Agaricus miiscarius, found in woods, and 
having a bright-red pileus studded with pale 
warts, while the stipe and gills are ivory-white. 
The juice is a strong narcotic, and poisonous if taken 
to excess. It is employed in some countries, mixed with 
the juice of cranberries, to produce intoxication, and an 
infusion of the plant is largely employed as a poison for 
flies, whence the name. Also called flybane. 
flyaway (fli'a-wa/), a. [< fly away, phr.] 
Flighty; restless; fluttering: as, a flyaway 
oung woman; a flyaway costume. [Colloq.] 
. .way-grass (fli'a-wa-gras), n. The Agros- 
tis scabra, a common grass of North America, 
with a very loose, light panicle, which breaks 
off at maturity, and is driven to great distances, 
before the wind. Also called hair-grass. 
fly-bait (fli'bat), n. A natural fly used as bait, 
or an artificial fly serving as a lure. 
flybane (fli'ban), . Same as fly-agaric. 
fly-bitten (fli'bit'n), a. Marked by the bites of 
insects. 
fly-blister (fli'blis'ter), i. A plaster made of 
cautharides. 
fly-block (fli'blok), n. Nattt. Bee block*. 
flyblow (fli'blo), . ; pp. flyblown, ppr. flyblow- 
ing. [< flyl, n., + blow 1 ; first in the p. a. fly- 
blown.} I. trans. 1. To make flyblown; taint 
with or as if with flyblows : chiefly in figurative 
uses. 
Can claw his subtle elbow, or with a buz 
Fly-blow his ears. B. Jonson, Sejanus, v. 10. 
I am unwilling to believe that he designs to play tricks, 
and U> flyblow my words, to make others distaste them. 
Stillingfleet. 
II. intrans. To deposit eggs on meat or the 
like, as a fly. 
So morning insects, that in muck begun, 
Shine, buz, and flyblow in the setting sun. 
Pope, Moral Essays, ii. 27. 
flyblow (fli'blo), n. [(flyblow, r.] The egg of a 
fly, the presence of which in numbers on meat, 
etc., makes it tainted and maggoty. 
flyblown (fli'blon), p. a. [<flifi, n.. + blown*, 
pp. of blow 1 . Hence flyblow.] Tainted with 
flyblows; hence, spoiled; impure. 
Him, that thou magnificat with all these titles, 
Stinking and fly-blown, lies here at our feet. 
Shak., 1 Hen. VI., IT. 7. 
Such a light as putrefaction breeds 
In fly-blovfn flesh, whereon the maggot feeds. 
Cowper, Conversation, 1. 676. 
fly-board (fli'bord), n. In printing, the board 
on which the printed sheets are laid by the fly. 
flyboat (fli'bot), n. [Early mod. E. also flie- 
boat, flibote; cf. F. flibote = Sp. flibote, flli- 
bote, Or. flieboot, < D. rlieboot, flyboat. The E. 
term, like the others, is usually derived from 
the D., but the D. term does not appear in 
Kilian (1598), and the formation, which should 
rather be *vliegboot, is unusual ; the D. may be 
from the E. The E. word, appar. referring to 
the swiftness of the boat, < fly*, v., + boat, may 
be an accom. of Icel. fley, a kind of swift ship 
(only in poetry, but the comp. flty-skip, ' fly- 
ship,' opposed to langskip, 'long ship,' also in 
prose ; a form * fleyba.tr = flyboat does not oc- 
cur). For the supposed connection with flli- 
buster, see that word.] 1. A large flat-bot- 
tomed Dutch vessel with a high stem, of a kind 
chiefly employed in the coasting-trade, having 
a burden of from 400 to 600 tons. 
One of the Flemings flieboats . . . chanced ... to be 
fired and bloweu vp by his owue powder. 
Ilakluyt's Voyages, I. 612. 
2. A light, swift sail-boat. 
Here's such a companie of flibotei, hulling about this 
gallcasse of greatnesse, that there's no boarding him. 
Marston, Antonio and Mellida, I., v. 1. 
3. A long, narrow, flat-bottomed boat used for 
the transportation in canals and rivers of goods 
Fly-book. 
fly-drill 
requiring to be carefully packed and kept dry. 
Also called xwift-boat. [Great Britain.] 
fly-book (fli'buk), n. A case in the form of a 
book in which 
to keep fishing- 
flies. Uhas leaves 
of Bristol-board or 
other stitf materi- 
al. At the ends of 
the leaf are small 
hooka or loops to 
which the fish- 
hooks areattarluil 
so that the (lies 
may lie carried 
without bending 
the gut. 
fly-boy (fli'boi), 
n. In printing, 
a boy who 
seizes printed 
sheets as they 
come from the press, and lays them in order, 
fly-brush (fli'brush), n. A long-handled brush 
used for driving away flies. It is often made 
of peacocks' feathers. 
They both had fallen asleep side by side on the grass, 
and the abandoned fly-brush lay full across his face. 
The Century, XXXV. 946. 
fly-bug (fli ' bug), n. A winged bug or heterop- 
terous insect, Reduvius personatus, of the fam- 
ily Bedwiidte, which preys upon the bedbug. 
fly-cap (fli'kap), n. A cap or head-dress for- 
merly worn by elderly women, formed like two 
crescents conjoined, and, by means of wire, 
made to stand out from the cushion on which 
the hair was dressed. Its name seems to come 
from the resemblance of its sides to wings. 
fly-case (fli'kas), n. The case or covering of 
an insect; specifically, the anterior wings of 
beetles, so hardened as to cover the whole up- 
per part of the body, concealing the second pair 
of wings ; the elytra. See cut under Coleoptera. 
fly-caster (fli'kas'ter), n. An angler who casts 
flies, or uses a fly-rod ; a fly-fisher. 
fly-casting (fli'kas'ting), n. and a. I. n. The 
act or art of casting the fly in angling. 
II. a. Casting the fly, as in angling; pertain- 
ing to fly-fishing in general : as, a fly-casting 
tournament. 
flycatcher (fli'kach'er), n. 1. One who or that 
which catches or entraps flies or other winged 
insects. 2. Specifically, a bird which habitu- 
ally pursues and captures insects on the wing, 
(a) Any species of the old-world family ihucicapidce, a 
large group of oscine passerine birds having a flattened 
Pied Flycatcher (Muscicap, 
bill garnished with rictal bristles. The species and genera 
are very numerous, and the limits of the family are not 
flxed. Among the best-known species are the spotted fly- 
catcher, Muscicapa ijrixola, and the pied flycatcher, Sf. 
atricapilla. (b) Any species of the American family Ty- 
rannidfe, a group of non-oscine passerine birds peculiar 
to America ; a tyrant or tyrant-flycatcher, of which there 
are many genera and several hundred species. See, for 
example, Contopux, Empidonax. (c) Some bird of musci- 
capine or tyrannine affinities or of fly-catching habits, like 
or likened to either of the foregoing, as, for example, a 
fly-catching warbler of the family ilniotiltidir. The word 
was originally used with great latitude. Derblan fly- 
catcher. See Dirbian. Fork-tailed flycatcher. See 
fork-tailed. 
fly-catching (fli'kach'ing), a. Catching flies; 
habitually pursuing flies upon the wing; hav- 
ing the characters of a flycatcher. 
fly-Clip (fli'klip), n. One of the 
leaves of a fly-book. See fly- 
book. 
fly-dressing (fli'dres"ing), . 
The act or art of manufactur- 
ing artificial flies and of mount- 
ing them on hooks for use in 
angling. 
fly-drill (fli'dril), n. A drill to 
which a steady momentum is 
imparted by means of a fly- 
wheel having a reciprocating motion like that 
of the balance-wheel of a watch. 
Fly-drill. 
