fly

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   To travel through the air, as a bird or aircraft does.

   Birds fly south for the winter.

2. 2
   verb

   To travel somewhere by plane.

   They are flying to New York tonight.

3. 3
   verb

   To make something move or float through the air.

   The children love to fly their kites on the beach.

4. 4
   noun

   The opening at the front of a pair of trousers, closed with a zip or buttons.

   He was embarrassed to find that his fly was open.

Appears in

Simplified etymology

Fly is an Old English word that originally denoted any winged insect—literally, something that flies—rather than only the insects now commonly called flies. The noun used for a trouser fastening or part of a theatre reflects the idea of something attached only partly to its base, as though it might fly off.

From Middle English flien, from Old English flēogan, from Proto-West Germanic *fleugan, from Proto-Germanic *fleuganą, from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (*plew-k-, “to fly”), enlargement of *plew- (“flow”). Compare Etymology 1. See also Saterland Frisian fljooge, Dutch vliegen, Low German flegen, German fliegen, Danish flyve, Norwegian Nynorsk flyga; also Lithuanian plaũkti ‘to swim’). More at flee and flow.

Topics

External links

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• Cambridge Dictionary
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