Fly Meaning
/ˈflaɪ̯/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounAny insect of the order Diptera; characterized by having two wings (except for some wingless species), also called true flies.
nounEspecially, any of the insects of the family Muscidae, such as the common housefly (other families of Diptera include mosquitoes and midges).
Sentence Examples
When you're enjoying yourself, the time seems to fly by.
Some of the birds didn't fly.
A fly was buzzing against the window.
CEFR Practice Quiz
The eagle can ____ high above the mountains with its powerful wings.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The small aircraft began to ____ low over the fields, spraying crops with essential nutrients.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English flye, flie, from Old English flȳġe, flēoge (“a fly”), from Proto-West Germanic *fleugā, from Proto-Germanic *fleugǭ (“a fly”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“to fly”). Cognate with Scots flee, Saterland Frisian Fljooge, Dutch vlieg, German Low German Fleeg, German Fliege, Danish flue, Norwegian Bokmål flue, Norwegian Nynorsk fluge, Swedish fluga, Icelandic fluga.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"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 26, 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[rosby] Lincoln, chapter V, in Mr. Pratt’s Patients, New York, N.Y.; London: D[aniel] Appleton and Company, →OCLC:
"October in Orania can be charming. When the sun sets, long ribbons of burnt orange settle on the horizon. The flies and mosquitoes that come with the oppressive summer heat haven’t arrived yet. It is Magdalene Kleynhans’ favourite time of year. “You can sit outside until late into the night,” says the businesswoman, whose family spend much of their time outdoors. Her children fish from the banks of the Orange River whenever they choose. Kleynhans leaves the house unlocked. “It’s a good life. It’s a big privilege.”"
— 2019 October 24, Dennis Webster, “'An indictment of South Africa': whites-only town Orania is booming”, in The Guardian, archived from the original on 29 Mar 2022:
"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, →OCLC, (please specify the Internet Archive page), (please specify the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals):
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
The eagle can ____ high above the mountains with its powerful wings.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The small aircraft began to ____ low over the fields, spraying crops with essential nutrients.