Fling vs Fly - What's the difference?
fling | fly |
An act of throwing, often violently.
An act of moving the limbs or body with violent movements, especially in a dance.
An act or period of unrestrained indulgence.
* D. Jerrold
Short, often sexual relationship.
(figuratively) An attempt, a try (as in "give it a fling" ).
(obsolete) A severe or contemptuous remark; an expression of sarcastic scorn; a gibe; a sarcasm.
* Jonathan Swift
A kind of dance.
(obsolete) A trifing matter; an object of contempt.
* Old proverb
To throw with violence or quick movement; to hurl.
* Dryden
* Addison
* 2011 , Tom Fordyce, Rugby World Cup 2011: England 12-19 France [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/rugby_union/15210221.stm]
(archaic) To throw oneself in a violent or hasty manner; to rush or spring with violence or haste.
* Milton
* Elizabeth Browning
(archaic) To throw; to wince; to flounce.
* Helen Crocket, The Ettrick Shepherd's Last Tale
(archaic) To utter abusive language; to sneer.
(zoology) Any insect of the order Diptera; characterized by having two wings, also called true flies.
* {{quote-magazine, date=2012-01
, author=Douglas Larson, volume=100, issue=1, page=46, magazine=(American Scientist)
, title= (non-technical) Especially , any of the insects of the family Muscidae, such as the common housefly (other families of Diptera include mosquitoes and midges).
* , chapter=5
, title= Any similar, but unrelated insect such as dragonfly or butterfly.
(fishing) A lightweight fishing lure resembling an insect.
(weightlifting) A chest exercise performed by moving extended arms from the sides to in front of the chest. (also flye)
(obsolete) A witch's familiar.
* Ben Jonson
(obsolete) A parasite.
To travel through the air, another gas or a vacuum, without being in contact with a grounded surface.
*
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-09-07, volume=408, issue=8852, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= (ambitransitive, archaic, poetic) To flee, to escape (from).
* (John Dryden)
* (William Shakespeare)
* (William Shakespeare)
* (John Milton)
*
(ergative) To cause to fly (travel or float in the air): to transport via air or the like.
*
* {{quote-magazine, date=2013-09-07, volume=408, issue=8852, magazine=(The Economist)
, title= To be accepted, come about or work out.
To travel very fast.
* (John Milton)
* Bryant
* {{quote-news, year=2011, date=September 18, author=Ben Dirs, work=BBC Sport
, title= To move suddenly, or with violence; to do an act suddenly or swiftly.
To hunt with a hawk.
(obsolete) The action of flying; flight.
An act of flying.
(baseball) A fly ball.
A type of small, fast carriage (sometimes pluralised flys).
* 1897 , (Bram Stoker), (Dracula) , Folio Society 2008, p. 124:
* , chapter=16
, title= *1924 , (Ford Madox Ford), Some Do Not…'', Penguin 2012 (''Parade's End ), p. 54:
*:And, driving back in the fly , Macmaster said to himself that you couldn't call Mrs. Duchemin ordinary, at least.
A piece of canvas that covers the opening at the front of a tent.
A strip of material hiding the zipper, buttons etc. at the front of a pair of trousers, pants, underpants, bootees, etc.
The free edge of a flag.
The horizontal length of a flag.
Butterfly, a form of swimming.
(weightlifting) An exercise that involves wide opening and closing of the arms perpendicular to the shoulders.
The part of a vane pointing the direction from which the wind blows.
(nautical) That part of a compass on which the points are marked; the compass card.
Two or more vanes set on a revolving axis, to act as a fanner, or to equalize or impede the motion of machinery by the resistance of the air, as in the striking part of a clock.
A heavy wheel, or cross arms with weights at the ends on a revolving axis, to regulate or equalize the motion of machinery by means of its inertia, where the power communicated, or the resistance to be overcome, is variable, as in the steam engine or the coining press. See fly wheel.
In a knitting machine, the piece hinged to the needle, which holds the engaged loop in position while the needle is penetrating another loop; a latch.
The pair of arms revolving around the bobbin, in a spinning wheel or spinning frame, to twist the yarn.
(weaving) A shuttle driven through the shed by a blow or jerk.
(printing, historical) The person who took the printed sheets from the press.
(printing, historical) A vibrating frame with fingers, attached to a power printing press for doing the same work.
One of the upper screens of a stage in a theatre.
(baseball) To hit a fly ball; to hit a fly ball that is caught for an out. Compare ground (verb) and line (verb).
(slang, dated) Quick-witted, alert, mentally sharp, smart (in a mental sense).
(slang) Well dressed, smart in appearance.
(slang) Beautiful; displaying physical beauty.
In obsolete terms the difference between fling and fly
is that fling is a trifing matter; an object of contempt while fly is the action of flying; flight.As nouns the difference between fling and fly
is that fling is an act of throwing, often violently while fly is any insect of the order Diptera; characterized by having two wings, also called true flies.As verbs the difference between fling and fly
is that fling is to throw with violence or quick movement; to hurl while fly is to travel through the air, another gas, or a vacuum, without being in contact with a grounded surface.As an adjective fly is
quick-witted, alert, mentally sharp, smart (in a mental sense).fling
English
Noun
(en noun)- the fling of a horse
- When I was as young as you, I had my fling . I led a life of pleasure.
- I had a fling with a girl I met on holiday.
- I, who love to have a fling , / Both at senate house and king.
- the Highland fling
- England were but a fling / Save for the crooked stick and the grey goose wing.
Synonyms
* (l)Verb
- 'Tis Fate that flings the dice: and, as she flings, / Of kings makes peasants, and of peasants kings.
- I know thy generous temper well. / Fling but the appearance of dishonour on it, / It straight takes fire.
- Wilkinson was struggling, sending the re-start straight into touch and flinging a pass the same way, and France then went close to the first try of the contest as Clerc took a long pass out on the left and was just bundled into touch by the corner flag.
- And crop-full, out of doors he flings .
- I flung' closer to his breast, / As sword that, after battle, ' flings to sheath.
- The horse flung most potently, making his heels fly aloft in the air.
- The scold began to flout and fling .
fly
English
Etymology 1
From (etyl) . Cognate with Scots flee, Dutch vlieg, German Fliege, Swedish fluga.Noun
(flies)Runaway Devils Lake, passage=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.}}
Mr. Pratt's Patients, passage=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 .}}
- a trifling fly , none of your great familiars
- (Massinger)
Derived terms
* blackfly * blowfly * botfly * caddis fly * cranefly * damselfly * dragonfly * drain fly * firefly * fly agaric * fly on the wall * flyswatter * flyweight * fruit fly * gadfly * greenfly * horsefly * housefly * hoverfly * march fly * mayfly * moth fly * no flies on * sandfly, sand fly * sawfly * warble fly * whitefly * wouldn't hurt a flyExternal links
* (wikipedia) * (Muscidae)Etymology 2
From (etyl) flien, from (etyl) . More at flow.Verb
- Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly.
On a bright new wing, passage=Flying using only the power of the sun is an enticing prospect. But manned solar-powered aircraft are fragile and slow, […].}}
- Sleep flies the wretch.
- to fly the favours of so good a king
- Whither shall I fly to escape their hands?
- Fly , ere evil intercept thy flight.
- He staggered and fell, grasped vainly at the stone, and slid into the abyss. “Fly , you fools!” he cried, and was gone.
- The brave black flag I fly .
On a bright new wing, passage=A solar-powered unmanned aerial system (a UAS, more commonly called a drone) could fly long, lonely missions that conventional aircraft would not be capable of.}}
- Fly , envious Time, till thou run out thy race.
- The dark waves murmured as the ships flew on.
Rugby World Cup 2011: England 41-10 Georgia, passage=After yet another missed penalty by Kvirikashvili from bang in front of the posts, England scored again, centre Tuilagi flying into the line and touching down under the bar.}}
- (Francis Bacon)
Synonyms
* (travel through air) soar, hover, wing, skim, glide, ascend, rise, float, aviate * (flee) escape, flee, abscondAntonyms
* (travel through air) walk * (flee) remain, stayDerived terms
* fly a kite * fly-by-night * fly into a rage * fly like a bird * fly like a rock * fly like the wind * fly off the handle * fly out the window * on the fly * overflyNoun
(flies)- As we left the house in my fly , which had been waiting, Van Helsing said:— ‘Tonight I can sleep in peace [...].’
The Mirror and the Lamp, passage=“[…] She takes the whole thing with desperate seriousness. But the others are all easy and jovial—thinking about the good fare that is soon to be eaten, about the hired fly , about anything.”}}
- (Totten)
- (Knight)
- (Knight)
Derived terms
* flyman * fly-coach * fly systemVerb
- Jones flied to right in his last at-bat.
Etymology 3
Origin uncertain; probably from the verb or noun.Adjective
(er)- be assured, O man of sin—pilferer of small wares and petty larcener—that there is an eye within keenly glancing from some loophole contrived between accordions and tin breastplates that watches your every movement, and is "fly,"— to use a term peculiarly comprehensible to dishonest minds—to the slightest gesture of illegal conveyancing. (Charles Dickens, "Arcadia"; Household Words
Vol.7 p.381
)
- He's pretty fly .