let fly

Idioms

Discharge a missile or fire a weapon; also, attack verbally. For example, He let fly a rotten egg at the speaker, or They let fly some insults laced with four-letter words. The first usage dates from about a.d. 1000, the second from the late 1500s.

Example Sentences

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let fly

The Dodgers scrapped his slider, mixed in a sweeper, and told him his arm was so good that he should stop trying to make perfect pitches and just let fly.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 3, 2026

A couple of questions later, after defending his crowd sizes, he let fly with this:

From Salon ● Sep. 11, 2024

The teams traded unproductive possessions until Fiso found a crease above the left side of the three-point arc and let fly.

From Seattle Times ● Mar. 2, 2024

Honestly, sometimes I’m just riding by and I realize that Kevin would probably enjoy hearing from me, so I park the bike, walk up to his front door, and let fly.

From Slate ● Dec. 17, 2023

Giving him just long enough to get settled good, I let fly a rock and it hit that tin roof like a gunshot.

From "Cold Sassy Tree" by Olive Ann Burns

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

let fly

Example Sentences

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