flying

1. not comparableThat flies or can fly.

   flying fox

   3 more examples

   a flying rumour

   in a sudden hail of exploding flying glass

   Matthew (26—6 to 13), Mark (14—3 to 9), and Luke (7—37 and 38) also heard of, and related, the circumstance of Mary, whom John says (11 — 2) was the sister of Lazarus, anointing the head of Jesus with ointment, yet they neither of them utter a syllable about his raising her brother from the dead. It is difficult to account for this fact, unless we suppose that John was actually dishonest, or that he took up, believed and recorded a flying story, which an occurrence of some kind had given rise to, but which was without any foundation in truth.

   1836, Lysander Spooner, The Deist's Reply to the Alleged Supernatural Evidences of Christianity, Boston, page 34

   Synonyms: winged · Antonyms: flightless

2. not comparableBrief or hurried.

   flying visit

3. not comparableCapable of moving rapidly; highly mobile.

   flying column

   Synonyms: winged

4. not comparablenauticalNot secured by yards.
5. not comparablenauticalCapable of foiling.

   Flying ferries are the watercraft of the future!

6. not comparableDesignating a cattle brand consisting of a letter extended on both sides with tilde-like curved lines.

   He brands his cow W (flying W) or — (two-bar).

   1911, Boys' Life, volume 1, number 1, page 25

   2 more examples

   […] some seventy-five cows belonging to William and Bernie with a Flying W […]

   1972, Willie Newbury Lewis, Tapadero: The Making of a Cowboy, page 154

   Wyles cut the fence, keeping the Flying D cowboys occupied rounding up their cattle.

   2013, Janette Kenny, One Real Cowboy

7. in compoundsnot comparablebiologyBeing able to glide through the air.

   flying snake

   1 more example

   flying squirrel

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of fly

plural flyings

1. countableaeronauticsAn act of flight.

   "Flyings" could vary considerably in complexity and lavishness and could involve an actor or property being either lifted from the stage into the flies above or vice versa. As Colin Visser has observed, flyings and sinkings are both "associated with supernatural manifestations of various kinds" […]

   1993, John C. Greene, Gladys L. H. Clark, The Dublin Stage, 1720-1745, page 58

2. uncountableaerodynamicsThe action or process of sustained motion through the air.

   His seconde hawke wexyd gery And was with flyenge wery. She had flowyn so oft, That on the rode loft She perkyd her to rest.

   c. 1503–1512, John Skelton, Ware the Hauke; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 63, lines 66–70

3. uncountablenauticalThe action of sustained hydrodynamic lift on hydrofoils lifting the vessel hull lifted out of the water, for sustained motion across water.

   Synonyms: foiling, hydrofoiling