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

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

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

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

With the housefly, however, more than doubling the population through releases could be highly objectionable, even though the increase would be only temporary.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson

Specifically, there are far fewer moths and hoverflies than 125 years ago; now, flowers are being swarmed with muscoid flies, which are a superfamily including houseflies.

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 researchers couldn’t identify the fungus’ specific chemical attractant, but they say if it could be isolated and manufactured, it might be useful as a lure to trap houseflies.

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

Both houseflies and mosquitoes of the genus Culex began to show resistance to the sprays.

From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson