horse fly


noun
  1. any bloodsucking, usually large fly of the family Tabanidae, especially of the genus Tabanus, a serious pest of horses, cattle, etc.

Origin of horse fly

1
1350–1400; Middle English horsfleeye

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use horse fly in a sentence

  • As much human affection as you can squeeze out of the60 hind foot of a horsefly!

    The Wasted Generation | Owen Johnson
  • In spite of the humid atmosphere, a buzzing like that of a horsefly, hummed several times above the two visitors.

    The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse | Vicente Blasco Ibanez
  • The common horsefly, which is so troublesome in the shady lanes of England, belongs to this same genus.

  • A horsefly (hoane) lived there at the edge of the mesa in a cavity.

    Seven Mohave Myths | A. L. Kroeber
  • Tabanidae viridis was not sent just to plague us with horsefly bites.

    Tabby | Winston Marks

British Dictionary definitions for horsefly

horsefly

/ (ˈhɔːsˌflaɪ) /


nounplural -flies
  1. any large stout-bodied dipterous fly of the family Tabanidae, the females of which suck the blood of mammals, esp horses, cattle, and man: Also called: gadfly, cleg

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012