fly-by-night
[flahy-bahy-nahyt]
- not reliable or responsible, especially in business; untrustworthy: a fly-by-night operation.
- not lasting; brief; impermanent; transitory: a fly-by-night theater.
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- a person or thing that is unreliable, especially a debtor who evades or attempts to evade creditors.
- a person regarded as a poor credit risk.
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Origin of fly-by-night
First recorded in 1790–1800
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for fly-by-night
Contemporary Examples
Some of the groups have been around for decades, others are fly-by-night.
And not fly-by-night issues either, but stalwarts such as G.E., Citi, Google.
Historical Examples
She certainly has acted like a fly-by-night up to this time.
They of the High TrailsHamlin Garland
He'll be out with a fly-by-night troupe afore the next month.
Watch Yourself Go ByAl. G. Field
Shown up in our newspapers as a ditch-digger—a fly-by-night—a nobody!
The LandloperHolman Day
Had the wind been directly astern, the course of the Fly-by-Night would have been smoother.
Janice DayHelen Beecher Long
Torched on by that fly-by-night who'll be getting out of town and who'll be forgotten inside a week.
When Egypt Went BrokeHolman Day
fly-by-night
- unreliable or untrustworthy, esp in finance
- brief; impermanent
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- an untrustworthy person, esp one who departs secretly or by night to avoid paying debts
- a person who goes out at night to places of entertainment
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for fly-by-night
n.
1796, slang, said to be an old term of reproach to a woman signifying that she was a witch; extended 1823 to "anyone who departs hastily from a recent activity," especially while owing money. The two senses involve the two verbs fly.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
fly-by-night
Shady or untrustworthy: “Before buying stock in a newly formed company, the prudent investor will check its owners' credentials to make sure it's not a fly-by-night operation.”
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The New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.