ˈsuperfly, a. and n. U.S. slang.
[super- 9 a: cf. fly a. 1.]
A. adj. a. Very good, excellent, the best (esp. in the context of drugs). b. spec. Typical of the film character Super Fly (see quot. 19751). Also with capital initial.
| 1971 R. Woodley in Esquire Apr. 79/1 ‘That,’ he said in crisp, sure tones, ‘is top-shelf coke. Super-fly.’ 1971 ― in New York 30 Aug. 29/1 They figure if the cat O.D.'d, it must have been some superfly dope. 1974 Florida FL Reporter XIII. 50/2 A kind of Swahili-speaking Superfly image. 1975 Wentworth & Flexner's Dict. Amer. Slang Suppl. 747/2 Superfly,..very wonderful, desirable, or attractive... Became popular after the 1972 motion picture Super Fly, about a cocaine dealer in Harlem. 1975 Los Angeles Times 14 July ii. 5/3 Last year a ninth-grader impressed the entire student body on several occasions by wearing flashy ‘super fly’ suits. 1976 National Observer (U.S.) 8 May 16/2 Ban outlandish and distracting clothes... No Superfly suits, no platform shoes. 1977 E. Leonard Unknown Man No. 89 vii. 67 The beauty parlor... Get his superfly hair fixed up. |
B. n. [From the title of the film: see sense b of the adj. above.] One who sells illegal drugs, a ‘pusher’.
| 1973 Black Panther 7 July 7/3 The high level dope pushers, the ‘Super Flys’, were the target. 1974 Black World Sept. 25/2 Long Black Song tells us, here in the 1970's, that the days of darky entertainers, superflies, sweetbacks, and Melindas, if not over, are numbered. |