fly-blown, ppl. a.
(ˈflaɪbləʊn)
[f. fly n.1 + blown ppl. a.]
1. Full of fly-blows; tainted, putrid, impure.
| 1573 G. Harvey Letter-bk. (Camden) 138 Flyblowen fleshe comm not in my messe. 1612 Webster White Devil v. iii, A dead fly-blown dog. 1692 Bentley Boyle Lect. iv. 137 The Manna was fly-blown. 1781 Cowper Convers. 676 Fly-blown flesh, whereon the maggot feeds. |
| fig. a 1529 Skelton Replyc. Wks. 1862 II. 234 Agaynst whiche..flyblowen opynions..I purpose for to reply. 1602 2nd Pt. Return fr. Pernass. iii. iv. 1412 His fliblowne [ed. 1606 (Arb. p. 46) fliblow] sonnettes. 1692 E. Walker Epictetus' Mor. (1737) xxxi, By each Fly-blown Fool cares'd. 1860 Thackeray Lovel i, Wherever fly-blown reputations were assembled. |
2. slang. a. Intoxicated, drunk.
b. Austral. and
N.Z. ‘Cleaned-out’; without a penny.
| 1853 C. R. Read What I heard, saw & did at Austral. Gold Fields 51 Being ‘fly-blown’ is a Colonial term for being ‘done up’. 1864 C. R. Thatcher Songs of War 20 When they know you're fly-blown, You're then left alone By the damsels inside the Bazaar. 1877 Judy 18 May 236 (Farmer) The officer..hinted that he was slightly ‘flyblown’. 1889 Star 3 Jan. (Farmer), Our diggers..get on the spree and come back fly-blown. 1921 H. Foston At Front vii. 56 [The men] usually returned to the works fly-blown. |