housefly

or house fly

[ hous-flahy ]

noun,plural house·flies.
  1. a medium-sized, gray-striped fly, Musca domestica, common around human habitations in nearly all parts of the world.

Origin of housefly

1
late Middle English word dating back to 1400–50; see origin at house, fly1

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

How to use housefly in a sentence

  • Recently I watched a common house fly caught upon "fly paper," and studied intently every visible movement of it.

    Tyranny of God | Joseph Lewis
  • Another rather recent addition to the black list is the house fly or typhoid fly.

    A Civic Biology | George William Hunter
  • There were no insects, except one kind of fly about one-fourth the size of the common house-fly.

    Wanderings in South America | Charles Waterton
  • A larger species T. giganteum Riley, also attacks locusts, while a third species attacks the common House-fly.

  • This fly is very like the common house-fly in general appearance, though its body is rather smaller.

    The Sea Shore | William S. Furneaux

British Dictionary definitions for housefly

housefly

/ (ˈhaʊsˌflaɪ) /


nounplural -flies
  1. a common dipterous fly, Musca domestica, that frequents human habitations, spreads disease, and lays its eggs in carrion, decaying vegetables, etc: family Muscidae

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