housefly

American  

[hous-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

Etymology

Origin of housefly

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

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

housefly houseflies

We’ve been wandering the preserve for more than an hour, and all we’ve seen are a few small wasps, a couple of ants, a housefly and lots of honey bees, which is a bad sign.

From Los Angeles Times ● Dec. 15, 2022

But hypervigilance has its limits, especially against a microscopic pathogen that can infiltrate a barn on the leg of a single housefly.

From New York Times ● Feb. 24, 2022

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

Their traveling companion — and here’s where I’ve buried the lead — is a giant housefly named Dominique, which they’re training to obey commands, like a dog, so that it will steal food for them.

From Washington Post ● Jul. 20, 2021

In the first place, as we have seen, the housefly has now become virtually uncontrollable by insecticides.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

Today, according to this study, you'd be far more likely to see these idyllic plants droning with black, boring houseflies like the kind typically buzzing around kitchen sinks.

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

The study said bees, ants and beetles were disappearing eight times faster than mammals, birds or reptiles, while other species, such as houseflies and cockroaches, were likely to boom.

From BBC ● Aug. 25, 2021

The attic creaks; houseflies draw electric-blue loops in the air.

From "All the Light We Cannot See" by Anthony Doerr