What does fly mean

Crossword clues for fly

fly

Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English

fly

I.verb

COLLOCATIONS FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a ball flies/sails

▪ The ball flew over the goalkeeper’s head and into the net.

a bird flies

▪ Some birds fly incredible distances.

a bullet flies (=moves fast)

▪ Bullets were flying around our heads.

a door flies/bursts open (=opens very suddenly and quickly)

▪ Then the door burst open and two men with guns came in.

a flag is flying (=a flag is shown on a pole)

▪ Flags were flying at half-mast because of the death of the Premier.

a flying insect

▪ Toads mainly eat small dark flying insects.

a flying start (=a very good start)

▪ The appeal got off to a flying start at the weekend when the group held a raffle.

a flying visitBritish English (= a very short visit)

▪ Timpson was due to pay a flying visit to London.

a plane flies

▪ Several planes flew overhead.

an insect flies

▪ Insects were flying around the food on the counter.

come running/flying/speeding etc

▪ Jess came flying round the corner and banged straight into me.

crane fly

flew open

▪ The bar door flew open and a noisy group burst in.

fly ball

fly half

fly into a temper (=suddenly become very angry)

▪ He flew into a temper at the slightest thing.

fly leaf

flying at an altitude

▪ We’re flying at an altitude of 40,000 feet.

flying buttress

flying debris

▪ She was hit by flying debris from the blast.

flying doctor

flying fish

flying fox

flying leap

▪ He threw a stick into the river and the dog went after it in a flying leap.

flying officer

flying picket

flying saucer

flying squad

▪ the head of Scotland Yard’s Flying Squad

flying tackle

fly/pilot a plane

▪ I admire the guys who flew those planes.

fruit fly

knocked flying

▪ Garry answered the door only to be knocked flying as two policemen came rushing in.

passed with flying colours (=got very high marks)

▪ She passed with flying colours.

pop fly

rumours fly around (=are talked about by a lot of people)

▪ There were wild rumours flying around the office on Wednesday.

sand fly

sparks...flying (=people were arguing angrily)

▪ The sparks were really flying at the meeting!

tsetse fly

tzetze fly

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ NOUN

air

▪ Miranda found herself flying through the air.

▪ Now he was lord of the air, flying wherever he would, envied of all.

▪ Do not think that a command-and-control vehicle in the air was just a flying radio.

▪ In Air Sugihan rumours flew that the settlers were to be shifted so that the elephants could be left in peace.

aircraft

▪ The remaining seven aircraft were flown back to Prestwick for re-allotment.

▪ The page also will list the types of aircraft each airline flies.

▪ But witnesses in a nearby aircraft said the plane flew directly into the swamp.

▪ Undamaged, the aircraft was later flown from the field direct to Renfrew by F/O Pickard.

▪ Even aircraft are forbidden from flying closer than two and a half miles from the Gap.

▪ Outraged residents protested last night over the decision to allow the crippled aircraft to fly over their homes.

▪ Leaned, that aircraft will fly 116 miles on the same fuel which takes it only 100 miles in rich.

ball

▪ A black metal ball flew from his right hand.

▪ Striking the ball was a total physical pleasure, and the ball flew, bounced, and rolled some 220 yards.

▪ There was a nasty moment before the ball flew over the three bunkers that block the fairway.

▪ The ball flew fantastically well in the air of that glen and sat invitingly on its lively turf.

▪ The ball flew towards the travellers, and one of the street urchins collided with the Doctor.

▪ He blew his nose and sent the ball of tissue flying into the dark.

▪ The ball flew high and wide of Judy and over the high wire fence behind her.

▪ Aldridge, however, signalled a no-ball, ruling that the ball flew above the permitted height under the series rules.

bird

▪ You then bring your hands down and show that the birds have flown.

▪ Sometimes the hawk will begin to circle or glide and a smaller bird will fly directly beneath him.

▪ The sky had darkened, clouds had gathered, and birds were returning, flying in belatedly to feed their chicks.

▪ I was with her one day when a bird flew into her house.

▪ I saw birds fly across, pigeons, I think.

▪ The birds flew up noisily, circled, and then they came down and settled in another tree not far away.

▪ Fairly large, long-necked, long-legged wading birds, habitually flying with neck outstretched: a useful distinction from herons.

door

▪ Then the door of the laboratory flew open.

▪ Not those nosy Klubocks, she thought, turning to see the back door fly open.

▪ Martin and Mihal, gazing from the mountain-top, saw the door fly open.

▪ He saw both truck doors fly open and the humans jumped out just as Jekub -.

▪ The back door flew open and Norm rushed in, pulling off his filthy shirt.

▪ A moment later the sounds of the storm were magnified suddenly in the hut as the door at one end flew open.

▪ When I pedal-turned the tail away from the flames, my door flew open.

face

▪ The decades since Malthus's time have seen progress of a kind that flies in the face of everything he foresaw.

▪ But strong biological determinism flies in the face of experience.

▪ I find this hard to believe since it flies in the face of all the principles of wrestling.

▪ Neill triumphantly flies in the face of a long line of buffoon kings on film.

▪ Anita Roddick has made a virtue of flying in the face of business convention.

▪ Whatever the riddle is called, it flies in the face of 3, 000 years of logical philosophy.

▪ It flies in the face of commitments made at the Earth Summit to reduce consumption.

▪ That concept is irrational and unworkable because it flies in the face of everything we know about human nature.

flag

▪ A smaller, lower battle flag will fly in front of the capitol, beside a monument to slain Confederate soldiers.

▪ He is expected eventually to rule that the Union flag must fly, and he called the row unnecessary.

▪ There are no white flags flying outside the former Santa Rosa.

▪ Now I am passing an area where the crescent moon flag flies over shops, bakeries and mosques.

▪ Watch out for his flag being flown from the church towers on this day.

▪ The flags were flying at half-mast.

▪ Don't enter the firing ranges when the red flags are flying - usually from prominent places such as hilltops.

helicopter

▪ James Carney may have been hurled from a flying helicopter.

▪ She was flown to hospital by helicopter in a coma but died of multiple skull fractures.

▪ You either patrolled an area close by or you were flown by helicopter to the more remote places.

▪ At roundup time, Mercer teams with his oldest son, Gary, who flies a helicopter.

▪ She was flown by helicopter to hospital in Orlando.

▪ Maybe I ought to fly my helicopter up there and find out.

kite

▪ All of these generalisations depend of course on a constant wind speed sufficient to fly the kite within its designed wind window.

▪ We explored dry creek beds, burned mesquite wood for campfires, flew kites, and swam in lakes.

▪ Let's fly a kite or blow some bubbles up into the sky.

▪ Baldwin merely intended to fly a policy kite at Plymouth.

▪ In 1986, Kent cigarettes launched an ad campaign which depicted two people flying a kite on a page.

▪ This he duly did while Eric and I were out flying kites.

▪ The Government flies these kites of disinformation then people feel grateful when they don't happen.

night

▪ His soul would have no repose and would hover over the place, flying through the night.

▪ They were gone and they had left me alone with whatever was flying the night sky.

▪ They often flew through the night without the benefit of fighter escort.

▪ We flew at night with a minigun set up on the doors of the aircraft and a starlight scope.

▪ This is useful if you fly by night or live in murky waters.

▪ The summer Kim turned sixteen, they flew every night his father was home.

▪ Often flies by night, and hovers for insects in dusk.

▪ Any minute I expected the poor little madman to go flying in the night, dead.

pilot

▪ She became a pilot and now flies jumbo jets between Bali, Hawaii and Los Angeles.

▪ One pilot flew Dade County commissioners over the crash site, another pilot said.

▪ A helicopter pilot has to fly to a point 200 kilometres due East.

▪ Marine pilots flew their big H-34s off the rolling deck of their carrier to the hazy coastline and then returned.

▪ The pilot was flying the aircraft fairly close to the ground and was using road signs to help determine his location.

▪ Aspiring pilots get to fly seven Imperial fighters, each with its own characteristics.

▪ This is very noticeable with experienced pilots flying into cloud without the help of the instruments.

▪ But recently, Brothers' pilots have flown over Havana, dropping leaflets urging protests of the Castro regime.

plane

▪ The unarmed plane flew very fast and very high.

▪ While a second airframe shell was built as a back-up, it was destroyed after the plane stopped flying.

▪ Other aircrew who died in the crash were ... In Lyneham, the transport planes were flying again today.

▪ The disclosure came in response to reporters' questions about why the planes were not flying.

▪ Looking out of the window, Branson saw flames streaming momentarily from an engine; then the plane righted itself and flew on.

▪ He looked up at the sky and heard the rumble of planes flying above the cottony blanket of sky.

rage

▪ Mitch was going to fly into a rage.

▪ Whenever Stewart showed signs of rejecting that outlook, Joe would fly into a rage.

▪ Maclean immediately flew into a rage.

▪ He flew into a rage with him and brained him with his lute.

▪ The Collector had flown into a rage.

▪ I flew into a rage and quit.

▪ He gambled and drank, and she had to humour him always to prevent him from flying into rages ....

▪ Caledor flew into a towering rage and dismissed their fears as groundless.

spark

▪ They've a revolutionary scoreboard for the fans and on the pitch soccer to set the sparks flying.

▪ Over the past few weeks they'd been rubbing along fairly civilly, though not without the occasional spark flying between them.

▪ There would be blue sparks flying.

▪ The last person to use it saw sparks fly.

▪ Nothing Less likely to start sparks flying Than a burnt-out flame.

▪ All clear: sparks fly along the nerve wires, pins and needles and it's over.

▪ A spark flew, igniting the gaseous oxygen in the tank.

▪ Stirring the embers with a stick sent sparks flying, echoes of the vast starry night.

■ VERB

learn

▪ The strange and difficult was becoming second nature in the way that it had when I'd learned to fly.

▪ After learning to fly she took a job as a pilot with a small commuter airline based in Humberside.

▪ He learned to fly, naturally, on seaplanes.

▪ It would have been like stamping on a little bird you watch learning to fly.

▪ She let her daughter learn to fly and try to become the youngest child to fly cross-country.

▪ At best this will always be a compromise-which explains why this is one of the most difficult aspects of learning to fly.

▪ If you made it through that initiation, you got to the flight line and actually began to learn to fly.

let

▪ At playtime she opened the tin and let the cockroach fly into my blouse.

▪ With computers you can write quickly, letting your fingers fly from key to key.

▪ Quench me quick and clean: let the ashes fly lightly where they will; no plaques.

▪ The slicks slowed from 100 knots to about 80 to let the gunships fly ahead.

▪ Alternatively, let him fly high to act as a aerial patrol to intercept an enemy trying the same thing.

▪ There are many ways to engage in a productive argument, and letting it fly is certainly one of them.

▪ So we dismantled the screen over the window and let them fly around the back of the barn.

▪ Away with me! Let us fly these deadly waters!

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a flying jump/leap

a flying start

▪ David Currie gave Barnsley a flying start, scoring after 31 seconds, and Andy Rammell added their second.

▪ However, you also need to give yourself a flying start by stimulating the circulation through massage and natural herbal extracts.

▪ It's given them a flying start ahead of their Japenese competitors, who until now were the traditional market leaders in electronics.

▪ Racers, once the top team in Britain, will want a flying start to the season to reassert themselves.

▪ That nagging thought deepened as the captain came in first, and gave the innings a flying start.

▪ The appeal got off to a flying start at the weekend when the group held a jumble sale and raffle.

▪ Video-Taped report follows Voice over Despite missing 7 first team regulars Gloucester got off to a flying start.

▪ Well, it seems we have a flying start.

a flying visit

▪ Its inventor looks like he's on a flying visit to the twentieth century.

as the crow flies

▪ My house is ten miles from here as the crow flies.

▪ The distance between the two towns is only 10 kilometres as the crow flies, but it can take up to 2 hours along the narrow coastal road.

▪ Similarly a stone's throw, as the crow flies, etc.

▪ The course should be five and a half miles as the crow flies.

▪ The distance between Avonmouth, near Bristol, and Poole in Dorset is only 65 miles as the crow flies.

fly a kite

▪ And, let's go fly a kite.

▪ In 1986, Kent cigarettes launched an ad campaign which depicted two people flying a kite on a page.

▪ Let's fly a kite or blow some bubbles up into the sky.

▪ This he duly did while Eric and I were out flying kites.

▪ We explored dry creek beds, burned mesquite wood for campfires, flew kites, and swam in lakes.

fly into a passion

fly/slip under sb's/the radar

keep the flag flying

leave/fly the nest

▪ After about three weeks, the young cuckoo is ready to leave the nest.

▪ Barn owls leave the nest at two to three months and are sexually mature at one year.

▪ If, however, the host appears reluctant to leave the nest, the cuckoo has a more direct approach.

▪ It is so rarely when all the fledglings have left the nest, to have them all together again.

▪ Once deposited, she leaves the nest and he immediately fertilizes the eggs.

▪ She usually builds on the shores of an estuary and there she sits devotedly, seldom leaving the nest.

▪ Unfortunately for her, the host bird showed no inclination to leave the nest.

▪ When the host leaves the nest, the cuckoo makes its approach in a long, silent hawk-like glide.

pigs might fly

the bird has flown

the fur flies

▪ When Marcia found out where Keith was all night, that's when the fur really started to fly.

time flies

▪ Dearest Jeanette How time flies especially when one is meant to be writing lots of letters.

▪ There are so many diversions here that the time flies by on wings.

▪ Think how time flies in periods of intense, purposeful activity.

with flying colours

▪ And they now look set to promote more harmonious race relations in the community after passing with flying colours.

▪ Fortunately, like the other tests, the 31-year-old convent-educated beauty passed with flying colours.

▪ He passed his exams with flying colours.

▪ He would have passed it with flying colours.

▪ Now he's gone back to driving school in an effort to pass with flying colours.

▪ So far James has never given a scrap of trouble and has passed his MoT test with flying colours.

▪ The Honey Thieves are a band who would graduate with flying colours from such a straight-forward system of appraisal.

▪ Trinity High School has just been inspected by Ofsted and come out with flying colours.

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

▪ Are you going to fly or drive?

▪ As I slowed down another car flew past me and turned to the left.

▪ Brenda's learning to fly.

▪ Fighter jets fly at incredibly high speeds.

▪ Flocks of seagulls flew overhead.

▪ Her long hair was flying in the wind.

▪ His company flew him to Rio to attend the conference.

▪ I'm not allowed to fly visitors into the National Park area without permission.

▪ I flew Aeroflot out of Moscow.

▪ Lindbergh was the first man to fly the Atlantic.

▪ Medical equipment and food are being flown into the areas worst hit by the disaster.

▪ My mother never liked flying.

▪ Papers were flying around in the wind.

▪ Some kids were flying kites in the park.

▪ Stan flew helicopters in Vietnam.

▪ The bus was flying along when suddenly the driver slammed on the brakes.

▪ The ship is flying the Dutch flag.

▪ They were forced to fly the country in 1939.

▪ We'll be flying from New York to Munich.

▪ We're flying nonstop from Milwaukee to Orlando.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

▪ By the end of the year he had converted to twin-engined fighters, joining 252 Squadron to fly Blenheim IVFs and Beaufighters.

▪ Her fa-ther stood up, and the magpie, delighted, flew round and round with a marvelous clatter.

▪ Her heart broke and her soul flew to heaven.

▪ I managed to roll clear just as it flew off into the air, never to be seen again.

▪ Stop flying before it becomes too windy to move or fly the glider.

▪ The number of training sorties flown by its pilots had dropped 7. 8 percent a year for nearly a decade.

▪ This is when the pilots who have been hibernating during the winter months get their gliders out and start flying again.

II.verb

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

▪ A revenue passenger mile is one paying passenger flown one mile.

▪ By the end of the year he had converted to twin-engined fighters, joining 252 Squadron to fly Blenheim IVFs and Beaufighters.

▪ Her fa-ther stood up, and the magpie, delighted, flew round and round with a marvelous clatter.

▪ Her heart broke and her soul flew to heaven.

▪ I managed to roll clear just as it flew off into the air, never to be seen again.

▪ Stop flying before it becomes too windy to move or fly the glider.

▪ The number of training sorties flown by its pilots had dropped 7. 8 percent a year for nearly a decade.

▪ This is when the pilots who have been hibernating during the winter months get their gliders out and start flying again.

III.noun

COLLOCATIONS FROM CORPUS

■ ADJECTIVE

black

▪ The air is stale and acrid, and a cluster of black flies hovers over the bed.

▪ They gazed at him with blue- black fly filled eyes, and a small glimmer of happiness grew on their faces.

▪ A fat black fly was buzzing against the windowpane.

▪ Heat waves dazzled off the chugging hood of the truck and fat black flies clung to its warm, splattered sides.

■ NOUN

crane

▪ A brown and white female appeared with a crane fly in her beak.

fruit

▪ Worms and fruit flies, too, have had all their units read off.

▪ The drug tests have been done so far only in fruit flies.

▪ A search through their genes reveals a set almost identical to those that help make the wing of a fruit fly.

▪ Then make sure you cover it, because those citrus pieces will attract fruit flies.

▪ Mutation could once be studied only in bacteria or in fruit flies.

▪ The only problem with the Clivus to date has been an outbreak of fruit flies inside the tank.

▪ Rotting guavas and fruit flies that hover around them are also prevalent on the ridge route.

tsetse

▪ The female tsetse fly retains her young for even longer.

▪ This transformed trypanosome line, ST3, was then transmitted through tsetse flies and the resulting bloodstream forms cloned in mice.

■ VERB

attract

▪ An unkempt coat will provide a refuge for parasites, and if soiled with faecal matter is likely to attract flies.

▪ Then make sure you cover it, because those citrus pieces will attract fruit flies.

▪ The reconditioned air attracts the flies so we wander round like lost nomads thinking about the next meal.

bite

▪ These microscopic biting flies would dry and shrivel in minutes out in the sun.

catch

▪ The reason is that where you get cobwebs, you get spiders - and spiders catch flies!

drop

▪ Then Souness comes and they drop like flies for two seasons running!

▪ Our kids are dropping like flies.

▪ They should be dropping like flies, but that hasn't been the case.

hurt

▪ He wouldn't hurt a fly.

▪ You couldn't hurt a fly with that thing.

keep

▪ It consists of a plastic bin with a lockable lid that will keep out flies, children and so on.

▪ Then, of course, he had a cover for keeping the flies off.

▪ The safe being a large cabinet with a fine wire-mesh door to keep flies off fresh food.

▪ The floor was of beaten earth, the walls washed white with lime to keep off the flies.

▪ To keep the flies away, crush garlic cloves in boiling water, allow to cool and then sponge over horse.

▪ She consoled herself with the thought that the acrid smoke would serve to keep flies out of the room.

PHRASES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

a flying jump/leap

a flying start

▪ David Currie gave Barnsley a flying start, scoring after 31 seconds, and Andy Rammell added their second.

▪ However, you also need to give yourself a flying start by stimulating the circulation through massage and natural herbal extracts.

▪ It's given them a flying start ahead of their Japenese competitors, who until now were the traditional market leaders in electronics.

▪ Racers, once the top team in Britain, will want a flying start to the season to reassert themselves.

▪ That nagging thought deepened as the captain came in first, and gave the innings a flying start.

▪ The appeal got off to a flying start at the weekend when the group held a jumble sale and raffle.

▪ Video-Taped report follows Voice over Despite missing 7 first team regulars Gloucester got off to a flying start.

▪ Well, it seems we have a flying start.

a flying visit

▪ Its inventor looks like he's on a flying visit to the twentieth century.

as the crow flies

▪ My house is ten miles from here as the crow flies.

▪ The distance between the two towns is only 10 kilometres as the crow flies, but it can take up to 2 hours along the narrow coastal road.

▪ Similarly a stone's throw, as the crow flies, etc.

▪ The course should be five and a half miles as the crow flies.

▪ The distance between Avonmouth, near Bristol, and Poole in Dorset is only 65 miles as the crow flies.

be bitten by the showbiz/travel/flying etc bug

be dropping like flies

▪ Players from both teams are dropping like flies.

▪ Grocer profits While other retailers are dropping like flies, supermarkets are making fat profits.

▪ Our kids are dropping like flies.

▪ They should be dropping like flies, but that hasn't been the case.

fly into a passion

fly/slip under sb's/the radar

go flying/laughing/rushing etc

▪ Any minute I expected the poor little madman to go flying in the night, dead.

▪ Bodies not strapped in by seat belts go flying.

▪ But shouldn't you try and find out some more about him before you go rushing off?

▪ It tripped on a book and almost went flying, but it just succeeded in remaining upright.

▪ So why had she gone rushing north from Lima to see this half-brother of hers?

▪ Spit went flying, seen by millions.

▪ The doll and blanket went flying, bounced off the far end of the block, and fell into the make-believe river.

▪ The next member of the team took his place at the stumps only to see both bails go flying.

pigs might fly

send sb/sth flying/sprawling/reeling etc

the bird has flown

the fur flies

▪ When Marcia found out where Keith was all night, that's when the fur really started to fly.

time flies

▪ Dearest Jeanette How time flies especially when one is meant to be writing lots of letters.

▪ There are so many diversions here that the time flies by on wings.

▪ Think how time flies in periods of intense, purposeful activity.

with flying colours

▪ And they now look set to promote more harmonious race relations in the community after passing with flying colours.

▪ Fortunately, like the other tests, the 31-year-old convent-educated beauty passed with flying colours.

▪ He passed his exams with flying colours.

▪ He would have passed it with flying colours.

▪ Now he's gone back to driving school in an effort to pass with flying colours.

▪ So far James has never given a scrap of trouble and has passed his MoT test with flying colours.

▪ The Honey Thieves are a band who would graduate with flying colours from such a straight-forward system of appraisal.

▪ Trinity High School has just been inspected by Ofsted and come out with flying colours.

EXAMPLES FROM OTHER ENTRIES

▪ The flies were swarming around the garbage cans.

▪ Your fly is unzipped.

EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS

▪ Real fishermen know how to tie flies and cast them so that they dance over the water.

▪ The sun was very bright; flies and insects buzzed on the littered veranda.

▪ Their heads were the size of flies and moved to and fro as they presumably spoke to one another.

▪ There are three ground pegging points at each bellend and one on either side of the fly.

▪ There might be bees, but there are clearly no flies on old Mel.

▪ There was a moment of indecisive silence, then rising voices, then the flies again.

IV.adjective