Meanings
- idiomaticinformalVicious.
2006: 'Anticlimactic as it may have been, the news last week that Meredith Vieira would replace Katie Couric on the “Today” show marked the dénouement of a fur-flying, nail-biting, years-long game of musical chairs among television’s leading ladies.' — The New Yorker, 17 April 2006, page 27.
Origin
Since a particularly vicious fight between cats or other animals sends fur flying.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
fur-flying. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fur-flying
“fur-flying.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fur-flying. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “fur-flying,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/fur-flying.
Source: fur-flying on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.