Definition of "fly"

Devils Lake is where I began my career as a limnologist in 1964, studying the lake’s neotenic salamanders and chironomids, or midge flies. […] The Devils Lake Basin is an endorheic, or closed, basin covering about 9,800 square kilometers in northeastern North Dakota.

2012 January, Douglas Larson, “Runaway Devils Lake”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, page 46

When you're well enough off so's you don't have to fret about anything but your heft or your diseases you begin to get queer, I suppose. And the queerer the cure for those ailings the bigger the attraction. A place like the Right Livers' Rest was bound to draw freaks, same as molasses draws flies.

1913, Joseph C. Lincoln, chapter 5, in Mr. Pratt's Patients

I went on trying for fish along the western bank down the river, but only small trout rose at my flies, and a score was the total catch.

1886, Peter Christen Asbjørnsen, translated by H.L. Brækstad, Folk and Fairy Tales, page 152

a trifling fly, none of your great familiars

1610 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, The Alchemist, London: […] Thomas Snodham, for Walter Burre, and are to be sold by Iohn Stepneth, […], published 1612; reprinted Menston, Yorkshire: The Scolar Press, 1970, (please specify the GB page), (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

The fly that plays too near the flame burns in it.

1636, Philip Massinger, “The Bashful Lover”, in William Gifford, editor, The Plays of Philip Massinger‎, published 1845, act 1, scene 1, page 470

Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.

1909, Gilbert Keith Chesterton, Orthodoxy

Flying using only the power of the sun is an enticing prospect. But manned solar-powered aircraft are fragile and slow, […].

2013 September 7, “On a bright new wing”, in The Economist, volume 408, number 8852

[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, [Act IV, scene iv], page 56, column 1

to fly the favours of so good a king

c. 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, [Act III, scene ii]

Fly, ere evil intercept thy flight.

1667, John Milton, “Book V”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], […]; republished as Paradise Lost in Ten Books: […], London: Basil Montagu Pickering […], 1873,

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: Printed for Jacob Tonson […]

And boyhood is a summer sunWhose waning is the dreariest one —For all we live to know is knownAnd all we seek to keep hath flown — […]

1829, Edgar Allan Poe, “Tamerlane”, in Al Aaraaf, Tamerlane and Minor Poems

He staggered and fell, grasped vainly at the stone, and slid into the abyss. “Fly, you fools!” he cried, and was gone.

1954, J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

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

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

This area, referred to as the fly loft, should typically be two and a half times taller than the proscenium opening in order to fly the scenery above the vertical sightlines of the first row of the audience.

2015, Jeromy Hopgood, Dance Production: Design and Technology, page 44

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

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. Whiting, […], page 7, column 1

We'll fly the partridge, or go rouse the deer.

c. 1590, Robert Greene, Friar Bacon and Friar Bungay

[T]he main part of the operation of pitching the tent, consisting of raising the flies, may be performed, and shelter afforded, without the walls, &c., being present.

1810, Thomas H. Williamson, The East India Vade-Mecum, page 452

The cavalcade drew up in line, / Pitch'd the marquee, and went to dine. / The bearers and the servants lie / Under the shelter of the fly.

1816, The Grand Master, or Adventures of Qui Hi, page 152

After I had changed my riding-habit for my one other gown, I came out to join the general under the tent-fly.

1885, Elizabeth Bacon Custer, Boots and Saddles

Y-Front is a registered trademark for a special front fly turned upside down to form a Y owned by Jockey® International. The first Y-Front® brief was created by Jockey® more than 70 years ago.

February 2014 Y-Front Fly

Briefs were given an opening in the front. The point of this opening (the ‘fly’) was to make it easier to pee with clothes on

June 2014 The Hole In Men’s Underwear: Name And Purpose

to the fly of the compass, which before was made equal, I was still constrained to put some small piece of wire on the south part there

a. 1850, Robert Norman, (Please provide the book title or journal name)

A fly carried him rapidly to Lady Clavering’s house from the station […]

1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 74, in The History of Pendennis. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850

Can I get a fly, or a carriage of any kind? Is it too late?I dismissed the fly a mile distant from the park, and getting my directions from the driver, proceeded by myself to the house.

1859, Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White‎

A glass coach, it may be as well to observe, is a carriage and pair hired by the day, and a fly a one-horse carriage hired in a similar manner.

1861, Henry Mayhew, William Tuckniss, London Labour and the London Poor: A Cyclopœdia of the Condition and Earnings of Those that Will Work, Those that Cannot Work, and Those that Will Not Work, volume 3, page 359

As we left the house in my fly, which had been waiting, Van Helsing said:— ‘Tonight I can sleep in peace [...].’

1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library

“ […] She takes the whole thing with desperate seriousness. But the others are all easy and jovial—thinking about the good fare that is soon to be eaten, about the hired fly, about anything.”

1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVI, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company

And, driving back in the fly, Macmaster said to himself that you couldn't call Mrs. Duchemin ordinary, at least.

1924, Ford Madox Ford, Some Do Not… (Parade's End), Penguin, published 2012, page 54

Then we read at New Southgate and Colney Hatch, that "Cabs are on stand at station from 9 a.m. to departure of last down train. Private omnibuses, flys and other conveniences can be had at short notice on application to Messrs. Walker & Son." At country stations we are often told, "a fly may be obtained on application to Mrs. Brown of the Black Dog," or some other cheery information.

1941 December, “Notes and News: Timetable features of the Past”, in Railway Magazine, page 570

Chepstow is good for excursions, and Bradshaw tells me I can get a fly to Tintern Abbey, although the fare structure seems particularly complicated. Alternatively, I could go for a simpler choice and just opt for "single horse, 1s", although I doubt I'd survive to tell the tale.

2023 February 22, Stephen Roberts, “Reading... between the lines... to Wales”, in RAIL, number 977, page 59

be assured, O man of sin—pilferer of small wares and petty larcener—that there is an eye within keenly glancing from some loophole contrived between accordions and tin breastplates that watches your every movement, and is "fly,"— to use a term peculiarly comprehensible to dishonest minds—to the slightest gesture of illegal conveyancing.

1854, Charles Dickens, “Household Words”, in Arcadia‎, volume 7, page 381

when Ortega got fixed up in his fly duds like that, an ord'nary man's overcoat wouldn't make 'im a pair o' socks.

1888, Frederick Thickstun Clark, A Mexican Girl‎, page 270

Give it to me, baby! Uh huh, uh huh! And all the girlies say, I’m pretty fly for a white guy.

1998, “Pretty Fly (For a White Guy)”‎performed by The Offspring

Starring the light-skinned Ron O'Neal with his shoulder-length perm and fly threads, Super Fly exudes a sense of black pride as O'Neal bucks the dope game, dismisses his white girlfriend, and beats The Man at his own hustle.

2001 September, “Super Fly”, in Vibe‎, volume 9, number 9, page 252

A fly sister rolled in with a suitcase full of hip-hop novels called The Glamorous Life, and an African brother with long dreads wanted to sell them some incense and some fake Jacob watches.

2006, Noire [pseudonym], Thug-A-Licious: An Urban Erotic Tale, New York, N.Y.: One World/Ballantine Books, page 169

How NOT to Facebook / […] no naked pictures, no deep emotions (awkward), no tagging a bunch of people in a picture of some fly Nikes, no making dinner plans (just use a PHONE).

2012, Lindy West, Dan Savage, Christopher Frizzelle, How to Be a Person: The Stranger's Guide to College, Sex, Intoxicants, Tacos, and Life Itself‎

I'm so fly, I don't even try / I get so high, I can touch the sky / Dress for myself, I don't dress for hype / I dress for myself, you dress for the likes

2019, “Balenciaga”, performed by Princess Nokia

[Rahiem] My name brings peace and tranquility / So all the fly ladies' hearts can run free

1979, “We Rap More Mellow”, performed by The Younger Generation

Word is bond she looked divine, she looked as fly as can beI thought she was different cause she was by herselfShe looked real wholesome, and in good physical health

1991, “Busy Doin Nuthin”, in I Need a Haircut, performed by Biz Markie

I rap for listeners, blunt heads, fly ladies and prisoners

1994, “Memory Lane (Sittin’ in da Park)”, in Illmatic, performed by Nas