housefly

American  

[haus-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

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Etymology

Origin of housefly

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

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

housefly houseflies

The Oriental fruit fly, which is slightly larger than a housefly at around 8 millimeters long, is generally bright yellow.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 25, 2024

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

"The Fly," a remake of the 1958 film of the same name, tells the story of a scientist named Seth Brundle who merges his DNA with that of a common housefly.

From Salon ● Jan. 30, 2023

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

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

But houseflies might actually benefit from a warmer climate, which also means more spread of human diseases like food-borne diarrhea.

From Salon ● Jan. 7, 2023

During Taylor’s “Gossamer Gallants,” shiny green female bugs entice unwitting male houseflies.

From New York Times ● May 5, 2022

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

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

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