fly-by-night
Use Fly-by-night in a sentence
baɪˌnaɪt adjective
1.
not reliable or responsible, especially in business; untrustworthy: a fly-by-night operation.
2.
not lasting; brief; impermanent; transitory: a fly-by-night theater.
noun Also, fly-by-night·er.
3.
a person or thing that is unreliable, especially a debtor who evades or attempts to evade creditors.
4.
a person regarded as a poor credit risk.
Origin:
1790–1800
1790–1800
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2013.
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Link To fly-by-night
00:10
Fly-by-night
is always a great word to know.
So is ort. Does it mean:
| a scrap or morsel of food left at a meal. |
| a gadget; dingus; thingumbob. |
Collins
World English Dictionary
| fly-by-night | |
| —adj | |
| 1. | unreliable or untrustworthy, esp in finance |
| 2. | brief; impermanent |
| —n | |
| 3. | an untrustworthy person, esp one who departs secretly or by night to avoid paying debts |
| 4. | a person who goes out at night to places of entertainment |
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline
Word Origin & History
fly-by-night
1796, slang, said to be an old term of reproach to a woman signifying that she was a witch; extended 1823 to "anyone who departs hastily from a recent activity," especially while owing money. The two senses involve the two verbs fly.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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American Heritage
Cultural Dictionary
fly-by-night definition
Shady or untrustworthy: “Before buying stock in a newly formed company, the prudent investor will check its owners' credentials to make sure it's not a fly-by-night operation.”
The American Heritage® New Dictionary of Cultural Literacy, Third Edition
Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Copyright © 2005 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
fly-by-night definition
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Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Example sentences
The other is insecure, fearlessly individualistic and fly-by-night.
Introduced legislation to raise the fee for gun licenses, to crack down on fly-by-night and other illegal gun dealers.
We're not talking about some fly-by-night operation either.
To restore confidence, hedge funds have tried to shed their reputation for being fly-by-night operations.
Nearby Words
Synonyms
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