flying

adjectiveverbnouncommon in dialogue

//ˈflaɪ.ɪŋ//

That flies or can fly.

adjective

1
That flies or can fly.
flying fox
a flying rumour
in a sudden hail of exploding flying glass
2
Brief or hurried.
flying visit
3
Capable of moving rapidly; highly mobile.
flying column
4
Not secured by yards.
5
Capable of foiling.
Flying ferries are the watercraft of the future!
6
Designating a cattle brand consisting of a letter extended on both sides with tilde-like curved lines.
He brands his cow W (flying W) or — (two-bar).
[…] some seventy-five cows belonging to William and Bernie with a Flying W […]
Wyles cut the fence, keeping the Flying D cowboys occupied rounding up their cattle.
7
Being able to glide through the air.
flying squirrel
flying snake

Etymology

From Middle English fleynge, fleeʒinge, flihinde, vlyinde, vleoinde, flyand, ffleghand, flighand (also fleoninde, fleonninde, etc.), from Old English flēogende, from Proto-Germanic *fleugandz (“flying”), present participle of Proto-Germanic *fleuganą (“to fly”), equivalent to fly + -ing. Cognate with Saterland Frisian fljoogend (“flying”), West Frisian fleanend (“flying”), Dutch vliegend (“flying”), German Low German flegend (“flying”), German fliegend (“flying”), Danish flyvende (“flying”), Swedish flygande (“flying”), Icelandic fljúgandi (“flying”).

verb

1
Also a form of flypresent participle and gerund of fly

noun

1
An act of flight.
"Flyings" could vary considerably in complexity and lavishness and could involve an actor or property being either lifted from the stage into the flies above or vice versa. As Colin Visser has observed, flyings and sinkings are both "associated with supernatural manifestations of various kinds" […]
2
The action or process of sustained motion through the air.
His seconde hawke wexyd gery And was with flyenge wery. She had flowyn so oft, That on the rode loft She perkyd her to rest.
3
The action of sustained hydrodynamic lift on hydrofoils lifting the vessel hull lifted out of the water, for sustained motion across water.

Etymology

From Middle English flyinge, fleyng, fleyinge, fleynge, fleghyng, fleiʒeyng, flyeghynge, equivalent to fly + -ing. Cognate with Danish flyvning (“flying”), Swedish flygning (“flying”), Norwegian flyvning, flygning, flyging, flying (“flying”).

Forms

plural: flyings

fly · Any insect of the order Diptera; characterized by having two…Fly · A river in Papua New Guinea flyer · That which flies, as a bird or insect.

flying · That flies or can fly.

Flynn · A surname from Irish.fm · fathoms Fo · Buddha, in the context of Chinese Buddhism.

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.