ˈfly-catcher
[f. fly n.1 + catcher.]
1. a. One who catches flies. b. A contrivance for catching flies.
| a. 1600 Cornwallyes Ess. xix, To be of Domitians sect, a Fly-catcher. 1692 R. L'Estrange Fables cclviii. 225 The Swallow was a Fly-Catcher as well as the Spider. 1887 Pall Mall G. 5 Nov. 2/2 ‘The fly-catcher’, as he [Darwin] was known to the crew, was a prime favourite. |
| fig. 1708 Motteux Rabelais v. xv. (1737) 61 Ye scurvy Fly-catchers you! [i.e. lawyers]. 1889 Daily News 5 Feb. 5/3 The quidnuncs and flycatchers. |
| b. 1848 Hardy in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club II. No. 6. 321 This implement is much used in Cornwall, where it is called the ‘fly-catcher’. 1855 A. Manning Old Chelsea Bun-ho. vi. 91 After Tea..my Mother began to snip a Fly-catcher. |
2. A bird that catches flies; in England, usually one of the genus
Muscicapa,
esp. M. grisola; in America, usually one of the genus
Tyrannus,
T. Carolinensis or
T. pipiri.
| 1678 Ray Ornith. 158 Muscicapa, the flycatcher. 1777 G. Forster Voy. round World II. 358 Several sorts of pigeons, parroquets, and fly-catchers. 1833 Selby in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club I. No. i. 20 The spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa grisola). 1845 Darwin Voy. Nat. x. (1852) 137 The plaintive note of a white-tufted tyrant-flycatcher. 1869 W. P. Turnbull Birds E. Pennsylv. 21 Least Flycatcher, Empidonax minimus. 1882 Hardy in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club IX. No. 3. 440 The rare pied flycatcher (Muscicapa atricapilla). |
3. a. A spider that catches flies.
b. A plant that catches flies;
= fly-trap 2.
| 1750 G. Hughes Barbadoes 91 The Fly-Catcher..is of the Spider-kind. 1863 Kingsley Water-Bab. 13 A spring..which soaks up..in the bog, among red fly-catchers. c 1865 Ld. Brougham in Circ. Sc. I. Introd. Disc. 22 The Muscipula, Fly-trap, or Fly-catcher..has small prickles in the inside of two leaves. |
4. In the war of 1914–18, a fast type of aeroplane.
colloq.| 1924 Glasgow Herald 28 July 9 The royal yacht had three ‘fly-catchers’. 1925 Fraser & Gibbons Soldier & Sailor Words, Fly-catchers, a fast type of aeroplane, officially rated as ‘Fleet Fighters’. 1928 Times 23 Mar. 19/2 They were engaged in turn by the ‘Flycatchers’ from the Furious. |