flyblown

comparative more flyblown · superlative most flyblown · alternative fly-blown

1. contaminated with flyblows

   Him that thou magnifiest with all these titles Stinking and fly-blown lies here at our feet.

   1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Sixt”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene vii]

2. tainted
3. sordid, squalid

   The contents of its window were curiously variegated. They comprised […] a fly-blown ostrich egg or so, some fishing-tackle, and an extraordinarily dirty, empty glass fish-tank.

   1897 May, H[erbert] G[eorge] Wells, “The Crystal Egg”, in Tales of Space and Time, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday & McClure Co., published 1899, →OCLC, page 1