fly

«fly» in Mova's school dictionary: to move through the air with wings, like a bird, an… — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 5 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

part of speech

verb (fly, flies, flew, flown, flying); noun (a fly, flies)

meaning for a pupil

1) To fly is to move through the air with wings, like a bird, an insect or a plane. tree →

2) To fly is to travel by plane, or to make a kite, plane or drone move in the air. tree →

3) A fly is a small insect with two wings, like a housefly. tree →

4) A flag flies when it is up on a pole. tree →

5) Time flies when it passes very quickly. tree →

6) The fly on trousers is the opening with a zip. tree →

sense in the lessons

In school maths: an action with distance, speed and time (a plane flies 500 km an hour); birds that fly away leave the group, birds that fly in join it; flies can be counted. In science: birds, bats and insects fly; flies have 6 legs; how planes stay up. In everyday life: flying to see family, flying a kite. Phrases: «fly away», «fly a kite», «time flies», «on the fly», «wouldn't hurt a fly» (is very gentle).

examples

• A plane flies 300 miles in an hour. tree →
• 6 birds fly away from the tree. tree →
• 4 more birds fly in. tree →
• A frog catches 12 flies. tree →
• We flew to Dublin to see my cousins. tree →
• Let's fly my kite on the hill. tree →
• A fly has 6 legs like all insects. tree →
• Time flies when you're having fun! tree →
• “Shall we swim or fly, Peter?” tree →

note

Past «flew», past participle «flown»; he/she «flies». Plural of the insect «flies». Maths: «fly away» takes away from a group, «fly in» adds. With «per hour» it is a speed: distance = speed × time. Trap: a fly is an insect with 6 legs, but a spider is not.

In the corpora

• A plane flying over or a camera wobble can mean another take, so many takes do not mean bad acting.
• Elephants sometimes use tools, such as a stick to scratch an itch or a leafy branch to swat flies.
• Every zebra has its own stripe pattern, and the best evidence says the stripes help keep biting flies from landing.
• Bumblebees warm up by shivering their flight muscles, so they can fly on cold spring mornings when honeybees cannot.
• Butterflies and flies taste with their feet, so a red admiral landing on a rotting plum is tasting it as it lands.

Trees and pragmatics

Every meaning and example of «fly» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.