flies


see as the crow flies; drop like flies; no flies on someone; time flies. Also see under fly.

Words Nearby flies

The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.

How to use flies in a sentence

  • A germ flies from a stagnant pool, and the laughing child, its mother's darling, dies dreadfully of diphtheria.

    God and my Neighbour | Robert Blatchford
  • They must be kept away from flies—a fly can work havoc with a film in a few minutes.

    A Manual of Clinical Diagnosis | James Campbell Todd
  • I went into the dugout indescribably slack; hardly energy to struggle against the heat and the myriads of flies.

  • The destroyers and picket boats were round her as smart as flies settle on a lump of sugar, and there was no loss of life.

  • No escape from the steadily rising flood of letters and files,—none from the swarms of filthy flies.