housefly

American  

[hous-flahy] / ˈhaʊsˌflaɪ /

Or house fly

noun

plural

houseflies

1. a medium-sized, gray-striped fly, Musca domestica, common around human habitations in nearly all parts of the world.

---

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

---

Etymology

Origin of housefly

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

Example Sentences

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

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

Even after the Bull was out of sight, the laughter followed Virgil like a buzzing housefly until he finally reached the plain redbrick home of the Tanakas.

From "Hello, Universe" by Erin Entrada Kelly