- fly
- fly fly [flaɪ] verb flew PASTTENSE [fluː] flown PASTPART [fləʊn ǁ floʊn]
• From Belfast, British Airways Cargo flies to London Heathrow, Manchester and Glasgow.
• Mr McGovern always flies economy class.
• It was more cost-effective to fly the chemicals direct to each country.
• A waiting helicopter flew the president to his next meeting.
• We were never confident the system was going to fly.
• A product which the market has clearly rejected cannot be made to fly
4. fly in the face of something to be or do the opposite of what most people think is reasonable, sensible or normal:• A sales tax would fly in the face of EU moves towards greater standardisation of indirect taxes.
• She made a virtue of flying in the face of business convention.
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fly UK US /flaɪ/ verb (flew, flown)► [I] TRANSPORT to travel in an aircraft: »How long does it take to fly from Heathrow to Los Angeles?
fly out of/into somewhere »More and more business executives are flying out of the state's commercial airports.
fly business class/economy/standby »They flew business class to Johannesburg overnight.
► [T + adv/prep] TRANSPORT to transport people or goods by aircraft: »Oil workers are flown by helicopter to the rigs.
► [I] INFORMAL to be successful or popular: »We're hoping the new brand name will fly.
Financial and business terms. 2012.