Meaning

32 senses

  1. Any insect of the order Diptera; characterized by having two wings (except for some wingless species), also called true flies.

    Fliege, Flüüge

    му́хаmúxa, двукры́лоеdvukrýloje

    му́хаmúxa

  2. Especially, any of the insects of the family Muscidae, such as the common housefly (other families of Diptera include mosquitoes and midges).

    Fliege

    му́хаmúxa

    му́хаmúxa

  3. Those or any similar but not closely related insect, such as a dragonfly, butterfly, or gallfly.

  4. A lightweight fishing lure resembling an insect.

    Kunstköder, Blinker

    блесна́blesná

    блешня́blešnjá

    fisherman's lure consisting of a fishhook decorated to look like an insect

  5. A chest exercise performed by moving extended arms from the sides to in front of the chest. (also flye)

  6. The butterfly stroke (plural is normally flys).

  7. A simple dance in which the hands are shaken in the air, popular in the 1960s.

  8. A butterfly (combination of four options).

  9. An act of flying.

    There was a good wind, so I decided to give the kite a fly.

    полётpoljót

  10. A fly ball.

  11. A piece of canvas that covers the opening at the front of a tent.

    по́логpólog

    flap consisting of a piece of canvas that can be drawn back to provide entrance to a tent

  12. A strip of material (sometimes hiding zippers or buttons) at the front of a pair of trousers, pants, underpants, bootees, etc.

    Ha-ha! Your fly's undone!

    your fly's undone/down

Examples

2469 sentences

  1. Some kinds of birds can't fly.

    Деякі птахи не вміють літати. — rmdas

    ruНекоторые птицы не умеют летать. — userplace

    deEinige Vogelarten können nicht fliegen. — MUIRIEL

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · A1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  2. Birds fly south in the winter.

    Птахи взимку улітають на південь. — deniko

    ruПтицы летят на юг зимой. — corvard

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · A2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  3. A bird was flying in the sky.

    У небі летіла пташка. — aandrusiak

    ruПтица летела в небе. — Lenin_1917

    deEin Vogel flog am Himmel. — mayabe

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · A1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  4. I know Tom is afraid of flying.

    Я знаю, що Том боїться літати. — deniko

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · A1Open on TatoebaReport a problem

  5. Tom and Mary are flying to Boston tomorrow.

    Том та Мері завтра вилітають у Бостон. — deniko

    ruТом и Мэри завтра улетают в Бостон. — marafon

    deTom und Maria fliegen morgen nach Boston. — Pfirsichbaeumchen

    CC BY 2.0 FR · Tatoeba · CK · A2Open on TatoebaReport a problem

Translations

9 languages
Українська
By meaning 2
insect of the order Diptera:
fishing lure:
Русский
By meaning 6
insect of the order Diptera:
fishing lure:
act of flying:
piece of canvas that covers the opening of a tent:
type of small, fast carriage:
strip that hides the opening of trousers/pants or underpants — see also zipper:
Deutsch
By meaning 3
insect of the order Diptera:
fishing lure:
strip that hides the opening of trousers/pants or underpants — see also zipper:

Origin

From Middle English fflye, flehe, flei, fleie, fley, fleye, fleȝe, flie, fliȝe, flye, vliȝ

From Middle English fflye, flehe, flei, fleie, fley, fleye, fleȝe, flie, fliȝe, flye, vliȝe, vlye, from Old English flēge, flēoge, flīeġe (“a fly”), from Proto-West Germanic *fleugā, from Proto-Germanic *fleugǭ (“a fly”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“to flow, fly, run; to splash”), enlargement of *plew- (“to flow, fly, run”).

From Middle English flye (“flying, flight”), from Old English flyġe (“flying, flight”), from Proto-Germanic *flugiz.

Related to German Flügel (“a wing”), Dutch vleugel (“a wing”), Swedish flygel (“a wing”).

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

plural: flies / flys
Singularfly
Pluralflies / flys

regular

Synonyms

6 synonyms
Close in meaning
  • (baseball) a hit that flies up in the air:fly ball
  • an opening in a garment that is closed by a zipper or by buttons concealed under a fold of cloth:fly front
  • flap consisting of a piece of canvas that can be drawn back to provide entrance to a tent:tent-flyrainflyfly sheettent flap

Word family

198 related words
Derivedadder flyalderflyalkali flyantiflyapple flyassassin flyawl-flybanana flybat flybean flybee flybeetflyblind-flyblister flyblue flybobflybottleflybreezeflybrine flybull-flyburrel flybush flycabbage flycanker fly

Collocations

12 patterns
  • fly a kite
  • flying back to
  • fly a helicopter
  • birds fly
  • how to fly
  • afraid of flying
  • flying back
  • sent debris flying
  • flying over the
  • is flying back
  • plane flew
  • fly an an

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
flutterB2fluxflyerflyoverfoal
fly — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto