housefly

American  

[haus-flahy] / ˈhaʊsˌflaɪ /

Or house fly

noun

• houseflies
  plural

1. a medium-sized, gray-striped fly, Musca domestica, common around human habitations in nearly all parts of the world.

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housefly British  

/ ˈhaʊsˌflaɪ /

noun

1. a common dipterous fly, Musca domestica, that frequents human habitations, spreads disease, and lays its eggs in carrion, decaying vegetables, etc: family Muscidae

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• houseflies
  plural

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Etymology

Origin of housefly

late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at house, fly ¹

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

housefly houseflies

Innumerable bugs, each one less than half the size of a housefly, but primed to chaw their way through a $16-billion California industry exactly like you did to that bag of chips.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 15, 2024

People can be forgiving, our attention spans rival the life cycle of a housefly — one of the plot’s premises — move on.

From Washington Post ● Apr. 14, 2023

Not really — though there is a nifty one-shot chase sequence where Lillis’ druid hastily shape-shifts among a housefly, a mouse, a cat and a deer.

From New York Times ● Mar. 30, 2023

If you see a dead housefly on a windowsill surrounded by a ghostly halo of tiny white spores, it’s a death trap.

From Science Magazine ● Nov. 1, 2021

Even after the Bull was out of sight, the laughter followed Virgil like a buzzing housefly until he finally reached the plain redbrick home of the Tanakas.

From "Hello, Universe" by Erin Entrada Kelly

Dr Whitaker told the court she examined fly papers from Kaylea's room, one of which had at least 60 houseflies on, and another which had at least 50.

From BBC ● Jan. 24, 2023

But elsewhere in the world, some insects are experiencing catastrophic declines, which gives a window for less charismatic bugs, like houseflies, to proliferate.

From Salon ● Jan. 7, 2023

As wings shrink, air friction overwhelms flight power—that’s why dragonflies soar as houseflies sputter.

From Scientific American ● Mar. 21, 2022

The fungal attraction can be spotted indoors or outdoors, where dead houseflies are perched with their wings spread, Naundrup says.

From Science Magazine ● Nov. 1, 2021

On the other hand, resistance among houseflies and body lice has now developed on a global scale.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

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