-
1[countable] a small flying insect with two wings. There are many different types of flies A fly was buzzing against the window. Flies rose in thick black swarms. picture at animal
Want to learn more?
Find out which words work together and produce more natural sounding English with the Oxford Collocations Dictionary app.
in fishing - 2[countable] a fly or something made to look like a fly, that is put on a hook and used as bait to catch fish fly-fishing
- 3[singular] an opening down the front of a pair of pants that fastens with a zipper or buttons and is usually covered over by a strip of material Your fly is open! picture at clothes on tent
- 4[countable] a piece of material that covers the entrance to a tent see flies Idioms
insect
to die or fall down in very large numbers People were dropping like flies in the intense heat.
a person or thing that spoils a situation or an occasion that is fine in all other ways
a person who watches others without being noticed I'd love to be a fly on the wall when he tells her the news. fly-on-the-wall documentaries (= in which people are filmed going about their normal lives as if the camera were not there)
the person mentioned is smart and not easily tricked
to be kind and gentle and unwilling to cause unhappiness
if you do something on the fly, you do it quickly while something else is happening, and without thinking about it very much
Check pronunciation: fly