1690. B. E., New Dict. of Terms, etc., s.v.
1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
1791. Life and Adventures of Bamfylde Moore Carew, s.v.
1851. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, vol. II., p. 34. There is
another article called a flyer, that is, a shoe sold without being
welted.
3. (Winchester).—A half-volley at football. A made-flyer is when the
bound of the ball is gained from a previous kick, by the same side,
against canvas or any other obstacle, or is dropped, as in a
‘drop-kick.’ This is now confused with a ‘kick-up.’
Fly-flapped, adj. (obsolete).—Whipped in the stocks, or at the cart’s
tail.—Grose.
Fly-Flapper, subs. (old).—A heavy bludgeon.
Fly-flat, subs. (turf).—A would-be connoisseur and authority. [From fly
= knowing + flat = a fool.]
Flying.—To look as if the Devil had shit him (or her) flying (common
and proverbial).—Said in derision of one odd-looking, filthy, or
deformed.
Flying-angel.—See Angel.
Flying Bricklayers, subs. phr. (military).—The mounted Royal Engineers.
Flying Camps, subs. phr. (old).—Couples or gangs of beggars.
1699. B. E., Dict. of the Canting Crew. Beggars plying in flying
camps. Beggars plying in bodies at funerals.
1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
Flying-caper, subs. (thieves’).—An escape from prison; leg-bail (q.v.).
1864. Daily Paper, ‘Police Report.’ The blues are always ready to
spot a fellow who has tried on the flying-caper with them, and
given them leg-bail.
Flying-cat.—See Cat.
Flying Country, subs. phr. (hunting).—A country where the going (q.v.)
is fast and good.
1856. Whyte Melville, Kate Coventry, ch. xii. The heavy-top hounds
are an establishment such as, I am given to understand, is not
usually kept in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, and other
so-called ‘flying counties.’
Flying Cove, subs. phr. (American thieves’).—An impostor who gets, or
tries to get, money from persons who have been robbed by pretending to
give such information as will lead to recovery. Formerly, Flying-porter
(Grose).
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogues’ Lexicon, s.v.
Flying-dustman.—See Stiff-un.
Flying-dutchman, subs. (common).—The London and Exeter express (G. W.
R.). See also Flying Scotchman and Wild Irishman. Cf., Dead-meat train
and Larky subaltern’s coach.
Flying-horse (or Mare), subs. (wrestling).—The throw by which an
opponent is sent over the head. Introduced, says Bee, by Parkins.
1754. Foote, Knights, Act I. But we don’t wrestle after your
fashion; we ha’ no tripping; fath and soul! we all go upon close
hugs or the flying-mare.
1884. Referee, 23 March, p. 1., col. 1. In the third and last bout,
Klein brought his man clean over his head—holding him by his
own—with a sort of flying-mare, and elicited thunders of applause.
1886. Pall Mall Gazette, 5 July, p. 4. On a Mississippi steamer he
astonished a rowdy who was shocked at his unnatural objection to
whisky, by performing upon him the feat known to British wrestlers
as ‘the flying mare.’
Flying-jigger or Gygger, subs. (thieves’).—A turnpike gate. [Jigger = a
door or gate.]
1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, or Rogue’s Lexicon, s.v.
Flying-man, subs. (football).—A skirmisher good at taking, and running
with, the ball.
1864. Eton School Days, ch. 23, p. 255. He possessed good wind, and
was a very good ‘kick-off,’ and he could ‘bully’ a ball as well as
any one. He was a little too heavy for ‘flying-man,’ but he made a
decent ‘sidepost,’ and now and then he officiated as ‘corner.’
Flying-mare. See Flying-horse.
Flying Pasty, subs. phr. (obsolete).—Excrement wrapped in paper and
thrown over a neighbour’s wall. [Grose.]
Flying-porter. See Flying cove.
Flying-stationer, subs. (street).—A hawker of street ballads; a
paperworker (q.v.), or running patterer (q.v.). Cf., croak. ‘Printed
for the flying-stationer’ is the imprimatur on hundreds of broadsheets
from the last century onwards.
1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. Ballad singers and
hawkers of penny histories.
1851–61. H. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, Vol. I, p. 228. That
order or species of the pattering genus known as flying stationers,
from the fact of their being continually on the move while
describing the attractions of the ‘papers’ they have to sell.
1886. Athenæum, 31 July, p. 139. Scores of tracts were issued in
the Newgate region, from Giltspur Street to Blowbladder Street,
whence numbers of flying stationers drew their supplies long before
either of the Catnachs were born.
Flymy. Adj. (streets).—Knowing, fast (q.v.); roguish; sprightly. From
Fly (q.v.).
1887. W. E. Henley, Villon’s Good Night. You flymy titters fond of
flam.
Fly-my-kite, subs. phr. (rhyming).—A light.
Flymy-mess, to be in a flymy-mess, verb. phr. (military).—To be hungry
and have nothing to eat. For synonyms, see peckish.
Fly-slicer, subs. (common).—A cavalry-man: cf., Mudcrusher. French
lancers are allumeurs de gaz, their weapons being likened to a
lamplighter’s rod.
1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v. Fly-slicers:
Life-guardmen, from their sitting on horseback, under an arch,
where they are frequently observed to drive away flies with their
swords.
Fly the Garter, subs. phr. (schoolboys’).—Leap-frog.
1863. G. A. Sala, Breakfast in Bed, Essay VIII., p. 187 (1864). He
has very probably been playing fly-the-garter in the gutter instead
of waiting his turn at the office.
Fly-trap, subs. (common).—1. The mouth. For synonyms, see Potato trap.