flying

flying
    adj 1: moving swiftly; "fast-flying planes"; "played the
           difficult passage with flying fingers" [syn: {fast-
           flying}, {flying}]
    2: hurried and brief; "paid a flying visit"; "took a flying
       glance at the book"; "a quick inspection"; "a fast visit"
       [syn: {flying}, {quick}, {fast}]
    n 1: an instance of traveling by air; "flying was still an
         exciting adventure for him" [syn: {flight}, {flying}]
    

Fly \Fly\ (fl[imac]), v. i. [imp. {Flew} (fl[=u]); p. p. {Flown}
   (fl[=o]n); p. pr. & vb. n. {Flying}.] [OE. fleen, fleen,
   fleyen, flegen, AS. fle['o]gan; akin to D. vliegen, OHG.
   fliogan, G. fliegen, Icel. flj[=u]ga, Sw. flyga, Dan. flyve,
   Goth. us-flaugjan to cause to fly away, blow about, and perh.
   to L. pluma feather, E. plume. [root]84. Cf. {Fledge},
   {Flight}, {Flock} of animals.]
   1. To move in or pass through the air with wings, as a bird.

   2. To move through the air or before the wind; esp., to pass
      or be driven rapidly through the air by any impulse.
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   3. To float, wave, or rise in the air, as sparks or a flag.
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            Man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
                                                  --Job v. 7.
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   4. To move or pass swiftly; to hasten away; to circulate
      rapidly; as, a ship flies on the deep; a top flies around;
      rumor flies.
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            Fly, envious Time, till thou run out thy race.
                                                  --Milton.
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            The dark waves murmured as the ships flew on.
                                                  --Bryant.
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   5. To run from danger; to attempt to escape; to flee; as, an
      enemy or a coward flies. See Note under {Flee}.
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            Fly, ere evil intercept thy flight.   --Milton.
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            Whither shall I fly to escape their hands ? --Shak.
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   6. To move suddenly, or with violence; to do an act suddenly
      or swiftly; -- usually with a qualifying word; as, a door
      flies open; a bomb flies apart.
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   {To fly about} (Naut.), to change frequently in a short time;
      -- said of the wind.

   {To fly around}, to move about in haste. [Colloq.]

   {To fly at}, to spring toward; to rush on; to attack
      suddenly.

   {To fly in the face of}, to insult; to assail; to set at
      defiance; to oppose with violence; to act in direct
      opposition to; to resist.

   {To fly off}, to separate, or become detached suddenly; to
      revolt.

   {To fly on}, to attack.

   {To fly open}, to open suddenly, or with violence.

   {To fly out}.
      (a) To rush out.
      (b) To burst into a passion; to break out into license.

   {To let fly}.
      (a) To throw or drive with violence; to discharge. "A man
          lets fly his arrow without taking any aim." --Addison.
      (b) (Naut.) To let go suddenly and entirely; as, to let
          fly the sheets.
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Flying \Fly"ing\, a. [From {Fly}, v. i.]
   Moving in the air with, or as with, wings; moving lightly or
   rapidly; intended for rapid movement.
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   {Flying army} (Mil.) a body of cavalry and infantry, kept in
      motion, to cover its own garrisons and to keep the enemy
      in continual alarm. --Farrow. 

   {Flying artillery} (Mil.), artillery trained to rapid
      evolutions, -- the men being either mounted or trained to
      spring upon the guns and caissons when they change
      position.

   {Flying bridge}, {Flying camp}. See under {Bridge}, and
      {Camp}.

   {Flying buttress} (Arch.), a contrivance for taking up the
      thrust of a roof or vault which can not be supported by
      ordinary buttresses. It consists of a straight bar of
      masonry, usually sloping, carried on an arch, and a solid
      pier or buttress sufficient to receive the thrust. The
      word is generally applied only to the straight bar with
      supporting arch.

   {Flying colors}, flags unfurled and waving in the air; hence:

   {To come off with flying colors}, to be victorious; to
      succeed thoroughly in an undertaking.

   {Flying doe} (Zool.), a young female kangaroo.

   {Flying dragon}.
   (a) (Zool.) See {Dragon}, 6.
   (b) A meteor. See under {Dragon}.

   {Flying Dutchman}.
   (a) A fabled Dutch mariner condemned for his crimes to sail
       the seas till the day of judgment.
   (b) A spectral ship.

   {Flying fish}. (Zool.) See {Flying fish}, in the Vocabulary.
      

   {Flying fox} (Zool.), see {Flying fox} in the vocabulary.

   {Flying frog} (Zool.), either of two East Indian tree frogs
      of the genus {Rhacophorus} ({Rhacophorus nigrapalmatus}
      and {Rhacophorus pardalis}), having very large and broadly
      webbed feet, which serve as parachutes, and enable it to
      make very long leaps.

   {Flying gurnard} (Zool.), a species of gurnard of the genus
      {Cephalacanthus} or {Dactylopterus}, with very large
      pectoral fins, said to be able to fly like the flying
      fish, but not for so great a distance.

   Note: Three species are known; that of the Atlantic is
         {Cephalacanthus volitans}.

   {Flying jib} (Naut.), a sail extended outside of the standing
      jib, on the flying-jib boom.

   {Flying-jib boom} (Naut.), an extension of the jib boom.

   {Flying kites} (Naut.), light sails carried only in fine
      weather.

   {Flying lemur}. (Zool.) See {Colugo}.

   {Flying level} (Civil Engin.), a reconnoissance level over
      the course of a projected road, canal, etc.

   {Flying lizard}. (Zool.) See {Dragon}, n. 6.

   {Flying machine}, any apparatus for navigating through the
      air, especially a heavier-than-air machine. -- {Flying
   mouse} (Zool.), the opossum mouse ({Acrobates pygm[ae]us}), a
      marsupial of Australia. Called also {feathertail glider}.

   Note: It has lateral folds of skin, like the flying
         squirrels, and a featherlike tail. -- {Flying party}
      (Mil.), a body of soldiers detailed to hover about an
      enemy. -- {Flying phalanger} (Zool.), one of several
      species of small marsuupials of the genera {Petaurus} and
      {Belideus}, of Australia and New Guinea, having lateral
      folds like those of the flying squirrels. The sugar
      squirrel ({Belideus sciureus}), and the ariel ({Belideus
      ariel}), are the best known; -- called also {squirrel
      petaurus} and {flying squirrel}. See {Sugar squirrel}. --
   {Flying pinion}, the fly of a clock. -- {Flying sap} (Mil.),
      the rapid construction of trenches (when the enemy's fire
      of case shot precludes the method of simple trenching), by
      means of gabions placed in juxtaposition and filled with
      earth. -- {Flying shot}, a shot fired at a moving object,
      as a bird on the wing. -- {Flying spider}. (Zool.) See
      {Ballooning spider}. -- {Flying squid} (Zool.), an oceanic
      squid ({Ommastrephes Bartramii} syn. {Sthenoteuthis
      Bartramii}), abundant in the Gulf Stream, which is able to
      leap out of the water with such force that it often falls
      on the deck of a vessel. -- {Flying squirrel} (Zool.) See
      {Flying squirrel}, in the Vocabulary. -- {Flying start}, a
      start in a sailing race in which the signal is given while
      the vessels are under way. -- {Flying torch} (Mil.), a
      torch attached to a long staff and used for signaling at
      night.
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148 Moby Thesaurus words for "flying":
      aeronautics, agile, air service, airborne, airline, ascending,
      astronautics, aviation, axial, back, back-flowing, backward,
      ballooning, blind flying, breakneck, brittle, capricious,
      changeable, cloud-seeding, commercial aviation, contact flying,
      corruptible, cruising, cursory, dashing, deciduous, descending,
      disappearing, dissolving, double-quick, down-trending, downward,
      drifting, dying, eagle-winged, ephemeral, evanescent, evaporating,
      expeditious, express, fading, fast, festinate, feverish, fickle,
      fleet, fleeting, flight, flitting, flowing, fluent, fluttering,
      fly-by-night, fragile, frail, fugacious, fugitive, furious,
      galloping, general aviation, gliding, going, gyrational, gyratory,
      hair-trigger, hasty, headlong, hovering, hurried, hustling,
      immediate, impermanent, impetuous, impulsive, inconstant, instant,
      insubstantial, jet-propelled, last-minute, light of heel,
      light-footed, lively, melting, mercurial, momentary, mortal,
      mounting, mutable, nimble, nimble-footed, nondurable, nonpermanent,
      on the spot, passing, perishable, pilotage, plunging, precipitate,
      progressive, prompt, quick, quick as lightning, quick as thought,
      rapid, reckless, reflowing, refluent, regressive, retrogressive,
      rising, rocket-propelled, rotary, rotational, rotatory, running,
      rushing, sailing, sailplaning, short-lived, sideward, sinking,
      slap-bang, slapdash, snap, snappy, soaring, spanking, speedy,
      streaming, superficial, swift, temporal, temporary, transient,
      transitive, transitory, undurable, unenduring, unstable,
      up-trending, upward, urgent, vanishing, volant, volatile, volitant,
      winged, winging