horsefly

British

/ ˈhɔːsˌflaɪ /

noun

Also called: gadfly. cleg. any large stout-bodied dipterous fly of the family Tabanidae, the females of which suck the blood of mammals, esp horses, cattle, and man

"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

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Horsefly: These flies are attracted to polarized light, or rays of light that vibrate in the same direction.

From Scientific American • May 19, 2021

The Mesas North of town, check out the Wilson, Hastings and Horsefly mesas, where lots of 35 acres start at $300,000, or, with a home, at $600,000.

From Time Magazine Archive

Some parties did, but not her; and she having to be up and on the way to Horsefly Mountain by six-thirty in the A.M.!

From Ma Pettengill by Wilson, Harry Leon

Wild Indigo; Yellow or Indigo Broom; Horsefly Weed Baptisia tinctoria Flowers—Bright yellow, papilionaceous, about 1/2 in. long, on short pedicels, in numerous but few flowered terminal racemes.

From Wild Flowers Worth Knowing by Blanchan, Neltje

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023