| 释义 |
▪ I. flight, n.1|flaɪt|
Forms: 1 fliht, flyht, flyð, 2–3 fluht(ü), south. vluht, 3–4 fliȝt, (fliht, flith), 3, 5 flygt, 4–6 flyght(e, (6 fleight, flighte), 5 flyte, 6 Sc. flicht, 3– flight.
[OE. flyht masc. = OS. fluht fem. (MDu., Du. vlucht fem.):—OTeut. *fluhti-, f. *flug- weak root of *fleug-an to fly.]
1. a. The action or manner of flying or moving through the air with or as with wings. Also in phrases, to take (make, wing, etc.) a or one's flight: to fly. lit. and fig.
a900Martyrology Fragm. 8 in O.E. Texts 177 Þa hi bæron to heofonum mid hiora fiðra flyhte. c1000ælfric Deut. xxxii. 11 Swa earn his briddas spænþ to flihte. c1175Lamb. Hom. 81 Mid þisse fluhte he fleh in to houene. c1220Bestiary 59 Siðen his fliȝt is al unstrong. c1250Gen. & Ex. 277 ‘Min fliȝt’ he seide, ‘ic wile up-taken’. 1340Hampole Pr. Consc. 543 He says, man es born to travaile right Als a foul es to þe flight. c1435Torr. Portugal 547 To the chyld he [the dragon] toke a flyght. 1605Shakes. Macb. iii. ii. 41 Ere the bat hath flown His cloister'd flight. 1632Lithgow Trav. v. 203 The flights and arrivals of which [Pigeons] I have often seene..in Aleppo. 1697Dryden Georg. iii. 14 New ways I must attempt..To..wing my flight to fame. 1748Anson's Voy. iii. ii. 416 They could scarce fly further than an hundred yards at a flight. 1857H. Reed Lect. Eng. Poets viii. 270 Undying words which wing their flight over each generation as it..passes away. 1871E. Spender Restored I. vi. 115 Crowds of chaffinches went flitting along with their quick dancing flight.
†b. Power of flying. Also in fig. phrase, to fond one's flight, i.e. to make trial of one's powers.
a1225Ancr. R. 132 Þe heuinesse of hire flesche & flesches unðeawes binimeð hire hire vluht. c1425Seven Sag. (P.) 1487 Al that day scho fonded hyre flygt, How scho myght..Fonden a tale al newe, The childe deth for to brewe.
c. Falconry. Pursuit of game, etc. by a hawk; also, the quarry flown at.
1530Palsgr. 221/1 Flyght of a hauke, uol. 1548Hall Chron., Edw. IV, 199 b, That king Edward should be destitute of one of his best Hawkes, when he had moste nede to make a flight. 1603Breton Packet Mad Lett. (Grosart) 21/1 If your Falcons be in tune, I shal be glad to see a flight. 1798W. Sotheby tr. Wieland's Oberon (1826) I. 17 The boy..gives his falcon flight. 1828Sebright Hawking 51 The goshawk..if much used to these easier flights, will not even attempt to fly partridges. 1855Salvin & Brodrick Falconry iv. 66 The Norfolk plover seldom takes the air, and makes an easy flight.
fig.1654Whitlock Zootomia 22 This steddy praise, is the flight and aime of truly noble soules.
†d. The time when the young birds first fly.
1600Surflet Countrie Farme i. xxii. 120 There are some farmers which sell at euery flight, two hundred, & three hundred paire vnto the vittailers.
e. Of birds or insects: A migration or issuing forth in bodies.
1823Moor Suffolk Words, Flight, the second or third migration from a bee-hive. The first only is called a Swarm. 1832Lyell Princ. Geol. II. 114 A similar flight [of butterflies] at the end of the last century is recorded by M. Louch.
f. The action or technique of travelling through the air or space in an aircraft or spacecraft or in a balloon; the movement through air or space of such a machine.
1784Universal Mag. Sept. 358 We again took our flight [in a balloon], and ascended to near 1200 feet. 1879Encycl. Brit. IX. 308/1 It is not necessary to enter upon a history of artificial flight. 1909Daily Chron. 19 Mar. 4/5 Lilienthal..shares with Pilcher..and Le Bris, the honour of being the pioneer of modern experiments in gliding flight. 1916H. Barber Aeroplane Speaks 1 The Elementary Principles of Flight. 1935C. G. Burge Compl. Bk. Aviation 312/2 It [sc. the tail plane] will be set at such an angle of attack that it carries no load in normal flight. 1951A. C. Clarke Exploration of Space ii. 9 The first difficulty one encounters in trying to envisage inter⁓planetary flight is that of scale. 1955Oxf. Jun. Encycl. IV. 35/1 The modern balloon dates from 1783, when two kinds of lighter-than-air methods of flight were introduced almost at once. 1971P. J. McMahon Aircraft Propulsion xiii. 350 Reference to any textbook on principles of flight will show that the induced drag is related to the lift of a wing.
g. An instance of flight (sense f above); a (usu.) numbered regularly timed journey by air-line from place to place; a journey through the air or through space; a voyage by an aircraft, balloon, or spacecraft through the air or through space.
1785[See flight n.1 2]. 1835Nautical Mag. Oct. 613 It is related that the aërial ship took her first flight in a waggon. 1842Househ. Words IV. 98/2 Exertions he had undergone in preparing for the flight. 1868Aeronaut. Soc. Catal. 8 Flying machine—which being attached to the body, enables a person to take short flights. 1904Pall Mall Mag. Jan. 19/2 Nor is it an easy task to calculate an airship's speed. On these flights up and down the Mediterranean coast, [etc.]. 1909Aero 25 May 14/1 Mr. J. T. C. Moore-Brabazon has made several short flights with the Bird of Passage at Shellness. 1912Aeroplane 26 Dec. 637/2 Their Yuletide present takes the form of a ticket for a passenger flight at Hendon. 1922Encycl. Brit. XXX. 57/1 The longest flight by an N.S. airship was 101 hours. 1928Times 22 Mar., [The King of Afghanistan's] first flight in any civil aircraft, and his only flight since he visited Europe. 1940Crump & Maul Our Airliners ii. 28 Transcontinental and Western Air announces that ‘Flight 10..will arrive in three minutes at Gate Number 11’. 1951N. Balchin Way through Wood viii. 108 We..happened just to catch a flight, and were at Heathrow by seven. 1962F. I. Ordway et al. Basic Astronautics xiii. 547 During the 32-hr flight Dr. Simons wore a full-pressure suit and remained seated in the tiny gondola. Ibid. 550 Manned balloon flights. 1968Times 10 Dec. 6/7 The Surveyor flights which soft-landed on the moon. 1969Listener 20 Feb. 232/2 The pictures you brought back from the Moon were not as good as those taken on an unmanned flight―the American Lunar Orbiter flight.
h. A Royal Air Force unit consisting of about five or six machines; the members of such a unit.
1914H. Rosher In R.N.A.S. (1916) 25 We shall not get our squadron together until the end of January... We may, however, go over in pieces, a flight at a time. 1915War Illustr. 27 Nov. 345 This branch of the Army is organized in what are called wings, divided into squadrons, and subdivided into flights. 1917Blackw. Mag. July 121/1 Twelve officers flew to France with the flight to which I belonged. 1932W. S. Churchill Thoughts & Advent. 181 The art of flying was in its childhood [1911–15]... Even the nomenclature had to be invented, and I may claim myself to have added the words ‘seaplane’ and ‘flight’ (of aeroplanes) to the dictionary. a1935T. E. Lawrence Mint (1950) ii. i. 101 The flight staggers off parade to drop bonelessly into bed. 1959Chambers's Encycl. I. 189/1 The main formations of the R.A.F. are the flight, the squadron, the wing and the group. There are three flights to a squadron.
2. a. Swift movement in general; esp. of a projectile, etc. through the air. Of the heavenly bodies: Swift and regular course. Phr. to take a or one's flight.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 137 Ðe seuene he bad on fliȝte faren, And toknes ben. 1545R. Ascham Toxoph. ii. (Arb.) 152 A perfyte archer must firste learne to know the sure flyghte of his shaftes. 1662Dryden Astræa Redux 270 Winds, that tempests brew, When through Arabian groves they take their flight..lose their spite. 1684R. H. School Recreat. 85 The Racket strikes..And so the Ball takes Flight. 1715–20Pope Iliad xv. 320 Skill'd to direct the Javelin's distant Flight. 1785Burns To W. Simpson xxix, Some ‘auld-light’ herds..Are mind't, in things they ca' balloons To tak a flight. 1801T. Roberts Eng. Bowman x. 237 By comparing the flight of..sharp and blunt-piled arrows. 1818Shelley Hymn Castor 8 Ships, whose flight is swift along the wave. 1846Greener Sc. Gunnery 328 If a high velocity be given to them to ensure a horizontal flight, the quantity of powder exploded must be in proportion. 1886Ruskin Præterita I. 325 Watching the flight of the clouds.
†b. (arrows) of the same flight: having the same power of flight; of equal size and weight.
1545R. Ascham Toxoph. ii. (Arb.) 131 You must haue diuerse shaftes of one flight, fethered with diuerse winges, for diuerse windes. 1596Shakes. Merch. V. i. i. 141 When I had lost one shaft I shot his fellow of the selfesame flight..To finde the other forth.
c. Swift passage (of time).
1647H. Vaughan Son-Dayes i, The rich, And full redemption of the whole weeks flight! 1667Milton P.L. ii. 221 Besides what hope the never-ending flight Of future days may bring. 1742Young Nt. Th. i. 147 The flight of threescore years. 1820Shelley Good Night 6 How can I call the lone night good, Though thy sweet wishes wing its flight?
3. fig.
a. A mounting or soaring out of the regular course or beyond ordinary bounds; an excursion or sally (of the imagination, wit, intellect, ambition, etc.).
1668Denham On Cowley 47 Old Pindar's flights by him are reacht. a1674Clarendon Hist. Reb. xiv. (1704) III. 414 Any other Man than himself, who was accustom'd to extraordinary flights in the Air. 1692Wagstaffe Vind. Carol. ii. 34 That happy Flight of Sir Richard Fanshawe. 1732Law Serious C. v. (ed. 2) 77 These are not speculative flights. 1760C. Johnston Chrysal (1822) III. 10 A silence more expressive of his soul than all the flights of eloquence. 1781Cowper Ep. Lady Austen 16 The world, who knows No flights above the pitch of prose. 1850Hannay Singleton Fontenoy i. viii, Temple..had some thoughts of trying opium, which he believed a higher flight, but Singleton dissuaded him. 1868Max Müller Chips (1880) III. v. 107 Drinking songs..do not belong to the highest flights of poetry.
†b. A fit or burst of unreasonable humour, caprice, or the like; also, flightiness, caprice.
1712–14Pope Rape of Lock v. 32 Good humour can prevail, When airs, and flights, and screams, and scolding fail. 1754Richardson Grandison I. vii. 33 But is not this wish of yours..a very singular one? A flight! a mere flight! Ibid. (1781) VII. l. 254, I am, at times, said she, too sensible of running into flight and absurdity.
†4. A state of flutter or agitation; a trembling, fright. Cf. flaught n.2 1, flocht, and flight v. a flight, in flight: in a state of perturbation. (The examples of a flight, placed under afflict ppl. a., possibly belong here.) Obs.
1513More Rich. III, Wks. (1557) 42/2 Y⊇ quene in gret flight & heuines, bewailing her childes rain. 1529― Comf. agst. Trib. i. Introd. Wks. (1557) 1141/2, I waxed..sodeinly sumwhat a flyghte. 1535Coverdale 1 Sam. xiv. 15 There came a fearfulnes and flight in the hoost vpon the felde.
5.
†a. A wing (obs.).
b. In later use collect. the flight feathers, or those used in flying.
c1205Lay. 2885 Þe wind him com on wiðere weoðeleden his fluhtes. 1735J. Moore Columbarium 39 If the three Colours run thro' the Feathers of the Flight and Tail. 1765Treat. Dom. Pigeons 74 The bald-pated tumblers..with a clean white head..white flight and white tail.
6. a. The distance which a bird can or does fly. † capon's flight (see quot.).
1600Surflet Countrie Farme i. xxii. 121 Let it [the doue-house] be distant a flight or two from any water. 1667Milton P.L. vii. 4 Above the flight of Pegasean wing. 1730–6in Bailey (folio) s.v. Capon's flight, a compass of ground, such as a capon might fly over, due to the eldest of several brothers in dividing the father's effects, when there is no principal manour in a lordship. c1820S. Rogers Italy, Meillerie 28 Within an eagle's flight.
fig.1667Milton P.L. viii. 199 From this high pitch let us descend A lower flight. 1856Ld. Cockburn Mem. ii. (1874) 116 His constitutional animation never failed to carry him a flight beyond ordinary mortals.
b. The distance to which a missile may be shot. Cf. Fr. volée.
1608Yorksh. Trag. i. viii, Within a flight o' the town. 1801Southey Thalaba iv. xv, Because the Hern soars upward in the sky Above the arrow's flight.
c. flight of a shot (see quot.).
1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Flight of a shot, the trajectory formed between the muzzle of the gun and the first graze.
d. Cricket. The trajectory and pace of the ball in its flight before pitching; also, the art of controlling these. (Cf. flight v. 7.)
[1897K. S. Ranjitsinhji Jubilee Bk. Cricket iii. 64 The bowler must learn to manipulate and deliver the ball in such a way that, after pitching, it deviates from its original line of flight.] 1903Jephson in H. G. Hutchinson Cricket 88 He..possesses a wonderful command of length,..a considerable variation of flight. 1911P. F. Warner Bk. Cricket 74 Every slow left-hander should cultivate ‘flight’. 1924N. Cardus Days in Sun 48 Even the changeful flight of a Lohmann could not hold back our Haywards and our Frys from mastery. 1963A. Ross Australia 63 v. 113 His..control of flight..had rescued a match that seemed to be drifting far out of England's reach.
7. a. The series of stairs between any two landings; hence a series of steps, terraces, etc., ascending without change of direction. [So F. volée.]
1703T. N. City & C. Purchaser 249 From this second Half-pace the Stairs fly directly back again, parallel to the first flight. 1780F. Burney Diary 4 June I. 366 Miss Burney, better go up another flight (pointing upstairs)..for there's no room anywhere else. 1820W. Irving Sketch-bk. I. 171 A great flight of steps leads to the interior. 1855Macaulay Hist. Eng. IV. 243 On the slope..were constructed flights of terraces. 1859W. Collins Q. of Hearts (1875) 21 She was away up the second flight before he could say any more.
b. A series of locks on a canal, rising like steps one above the other.
1861Smiles Engineers II. 146 The canal..descending from the hill-tops by a flight of locks.
c. A set of rails or hurdles. [Possibly a distinct word, repr. OE. fleohta, = Ger. flechte hurdle.]
1852R. S. Surtees Sponge's Sp. Tour lxviii, Eyeing Mr. Sponge clearing a stiff flight of rails. 1865Pall Mall G. 9 Feb. 3 Some..would as lief have led a forlorn-hope as put a horse at a flight of hurdles. 1894Daily News 14 Dec. 8/1 Rylstone started in strong demand for the Handicap Hurdle, but he died away at the last flight.
8. A collection or flock of beings or things flying in or passing through the air together:
a. of birds or insects. Also the special term for a company of doves, swallows, and various other birds.
c1250Gen. & Ex. 3012 Moyses bad meðe here on, And ðis fleȝes fliȝt vt is don. c1430Lydg. Hors, Shepe & G. (1822) 31 A flight of goshawkes A flight of douves A flight of cormerants. 1486Bk. St. Albans F vj b, A Flight of swalowes. 1556J. Heywood Spider & F. lii. 2 Herewith..Cam such a flight of flies in scattred ray, As shadowed the sonne. 1588Shakes. Tit. A. v. iii. 68 You sad fac'd men..By vprores seuer'd like a flight of Fowle. 1605Sylvester Du Bartas ii. iii. i. Vocation 871 Like to a Cast of Falcons that pursue A flight of Pigeons. 1710Addison Tatler No. 161 ⁋8 Storks, that came thither in great Flights. 1875‘Stonehenge’ Brit. Sports i. ix. 118 A ‘flight’ or ‘rush’ of dunbirds.
transf.1850L. Hunt Autobiog. II. xvii. 296 The rest of the heaven covered with large flights of..white clouds.
b. A company of angels.
1602Shakes. Ham. v. ii. 371 Goodnight..And flights of Angels sing thee to thy rest. 1671Milton P.R. ii. 385, I can..call swift flights of Angels. 1860Hawthorne Marb. Faun (1879) II. xiii. 129 Around their lofty cornices hover flights of sculptured angels.
c. A volley of missiles, esp. arrows.
1535Stewart Cron. Scot. II. 605 Fra bowmen bald and wicht, Of fedderit flanis flew ane felloun flicht Amang the Danis. 1591Garrard Art Warre 2 A whole flight of arrowes. 1640T. Habington Edw. IV, 17 In this trouble the Southerne men shot another flight. 1726Swift Gulliver i. i, They shot another flight into the air, as we do bombs. 1864Tennyson Aylmer's F. 94 A flight of fairy arrows. 1869Boutell Arms & Arm. viii. 131 The English archers..poured upon them their deadly arrows in flights thick as hail.
d. colloq. in the first flight: in the van, taking a leading place.
1852Smedley L. Arundel xxxix, Fellows..that you're safe to find in the first flight. 1893Sir G. Chesney Lesters III. ii. xxi. 15 While his sisters..had all been in the first flight, he had come up with the ruck.
9. The young birds that take wing at one time, e.g. the March flight or the May flight of pigeons.
1577B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. i. (1586) 10 b, For my Dovehouse.—The great flyghtes of this house must needes fyll the maisters purse, and serve the Kitchen well. 1600Surflet Countrie Farme i. xxii. 125 At this time, they [pigeons] affoord you a flight..called the March flight. 1829Southey Corresp. with C. Bowles (1881) 177 The flight of summer birds are off, also, or on the wing.
transf.1751Johnson Rambler No. 175 ⁋6 Every season brings a new flight of beauties into the world.
10. a. A flight-arrow (see 15).
1464Mann. & Househ. Exp. 248 Item, in fflytys ffor my mastyr the sayd day, viij.d. 1540Act 33 Hen. VIII, c. 9 With any prick shafte or fleight. 1599B. Jonson Cynthia's Rev. v. x, Here be [arrowes] of all sorts, flights, rouers, and butt-shafts. a1616Beaum. & Fl. Bonduca i. i, Not a flight drawn home..ere made that haste that they have. 1801T. Roberts Eng. Bowman vi. 151 For very small and light flights, deal seems to be the most eligible [wood].
b. = flight-shooting.
1557in Vicary's Anat. (1888) App. iii. 178 For the best game of the flight, he shall haue a flight of golde of the value of x s. 1599Shakes. Much Ado i. i. 40 He set vp his bils here in Messina, and challeng'd Cupid at the Flight.
c. The tail of a dart.
1938A. & G. D'Egville Darts 61 The flights, or tails, may be of paper, linen, tin, cardboard or feathers. 1950Oxf. Jun. Encycl. IX. 176 There are many variations in the darts themselves, from heavy brass darts with paper or plastic flights, to light, sometimes unweighted, wooden darts with feather flights. 1968N. E. Williamson Darts i. 15 Several friends of mine, all good dart players, will swear by the canes and paper flights, but used with brass barrels. Ibid. iii. 26 It is also advisable to make sure that you have a suitable box or container in which to place your darts when not in use in order to preserve the flights.
11. The husk or glume of oats, oat-chaff. Also, the outer covering of the coffee-berry.
1831Loudon Encycl. Agric. Gloss. (ed. 2) 1243 Oat flights are the glumes of the oat. 1855Morton's Cycl. Agric. II. 722 Flights, oat chaff.
12. Naut.
a. = fly-boat, a Dutch flat-bottomed boat. [? A distinct word = floyt, flute n.2]
b. (see quot. 1850).
1769Falconer Dict. Marine (1776), Fly-boat or Flight. c1850Rudim. Navig. (Weale) 118 Flight, a sudden rising, or a greater curve than sheer, as the cheeks, cat-heads, &c. Flight of the transoms, as the ends or arms of the transoms..become more narrow as they approach the keel, the general figure or curve which they thus describe..is called the Flight of the Transoms. 1867Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Flight, a Dutch vessel or passage-boat on canals. 1879Cassell's Techn. Educ. IV. 190/1 Special care is needed in fixing the lower cant-timbers at their proper heights and ‘flights’ or deviations from the transverse lines.
13. In various technical uses.
a. Lead-smelting. A light, volatile substance, given off during the melting of lead-ore.
1668Glanvill in Phil. Trans. II. 771 There is a flight in the smoak, which falling upon the Grass, poysons those Cattel that eat of it. 1710J. Harris Lex. Techn. II. s.v., In melting the Lead-Oar in the Works at Mendip, there is a Substance flies away in the Smoak which they call the Flight. 1823in Crabb Techn. Dict.
b. Angling. The set of fish-hooks in a spinning-trace.
1865H. C. Pennell Bk. Pike x. 136 The bait..[being] placed on the flight, and..hanging about 2 yards from the top of the rod. 1867in F. Francis Angling iv. (1880) 106.
c. Campanology. The lower part or tail of the clapper of a bell.
1872Ellacombe Ch. Bells Devon ii. 25 Bells are sometimes chimed by..hitching the rope round the flight or tail of the clapper. 1874Beckett Clocks, Watches & Bells (ed. 6) 345 The tail F, called the flight, is almost always requisite to make the clapper fly properly.
d. Machinery. (see quots.)
1813Niles' Weekly Register V. Add. A. 6/2 It was extended with flights to draw the meal towards the Hopper. 1874Knight Dict. Mech. I. 882 Flight, the slope or inclination of the arm of a crane. Ibid., Flight, a spiral wing or vane on a shaft, acting as a propeller or conveyor.
14. a. attrib. and Comb. as flight bag, flight-pond, flight-season, flight shed, flight-time, flight way; flight-performing ppl. adj.
1943Redding & Leyshon Skyways to Berlin 95 A *flight bag and a musette lay beside the foot locker. 1965Family Circle Oct. 31/2 Get a handy, colorful flight bag.
1784Cowper Task vi. 427 Noblest of the train That wait on man, the *flight-performing horse.
1801Daniel Rural Sports II. 475 A decoy for Dun Birds is called a *flight pond.
1886Daily News 12 Oct. 3/1 We are just now in the *flight season.
1934‘E. Cambridge’ Sycamore Tree iv. vi. 260 Howell was gazetted..to an aerodrome..where the *flight sheds looked no longer than hen houses on the wide green plain.
1881Blackw. Mag. Dec. 749 All repairs..must be carried on after *flight-time. 1959F. D. Adams Aeronaut. Dict. 76 Flight time, time spent in flight or in flying operations, measured, when exactness is required, between specified instances, as between the commencement of the take-off run and the end of the landing run. 1971Guardian 3 June 5/8 The flight time of 65 minutes allowed some..of the economy-class passengers to climb..to the first class lounge.
1933Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XXXVII. 3 It will become necessary clearly to mark *flightways to be used even on an ‘all way’ field. 1963Times 28 Feb. 13/5 The Battle of Britain fighter station at Hornchurch, Essex, was sold yesterday for {pstlg}517,000 by public auction... The last lot, comprising 38 acres of open grassland and flight⁓ways, was sold to a gravel company for {pstlg}61,000.
b. In titles of officers of various ranks in the Royal Air Force. Also ellipt. = flight sergeant.
1914Times 19 Nov. 3/4 Royal Naval Air Service. Flight Lieuts...reappointed as Acting Flight Commanders. 1916H. Barber Aeroplane Speaks 27 The Flight-Sergeant is awaiting the Pilot's orders. 1917Blackw. Mag. Mar. 380/2 ‘Good-night, you chaps,’ said one of the flight-commanders. Ibid. May 800/1 The good work of my pilot had brought him a flight commandership. 1922Man. Seamanship (H.M.S.O.) I. 11 Distinction lace worn by officers of the Royal Air Force... R.A.F. Flight Lieutenant. R.N. Lieutenant. 1928C. F. S. Gamble N. Sea Air Station iv. 75 Flight Commander (relative rank of Lieutenant, R.N.). Flight Lieutenant (relative rank of Lieutenant, R.N.). Flight Sub-Lieutenant (relative rank of Sub-Lieutenant, R.N.). 1943C. H. Ward-Jackson Piece of Cake 30 Flight, flight sergeant. 1959Chambers's Encycl. XI. 519 Army and Royal Marines, Captain. Royal Air Force, Flight Lieutenant (Flight Officer, W.R.A.F.). Ibid., Army and Royal Marines, Colour Sergeant. Royal Air Force, Flight-Sergeant. 1960T. Rattigan Ross i. ii, We'd nearly finished fatigue, Flight.
15. Special comb., as flight-arrow, a light and well-feathered arrow for long-distance shooting; flight attendant, a person employed to serve passengers on an aircraft; an airline steward or stewardess; flight call, (a) the call made by a bird during flight; (b) an announcement at an airport to passengers for a particular flight, informing them that they may board the aircraft; flight control (see quot. 1959); flight crew (see quot. 1965); flight deck, (a) of an aircraft-carrier: the deck on which aircraft take off and land; (b) of an aeroplane: the part accommodating the pilot, navigator, etc.; flight engineer (see quot. 1965); flight envelope Aeronaut., the set of limiting combinations of speed and altitude, or speed and range, etc., possible for a particular kind of aircraft or aero-engine; flight-feather, one of the wing-feathers on which a bird depends for its power of flight; † flight-head, ‘a wild-headed person’ (Nares); flight-line, (a) the direction of flight by birds, esp. during migration; (b) Aeronaut. (see quot. 1956); flight-muscle, one of the muscles by which the wings are worked in flight; flight net, a net used for the capture of birds; so flight-netter, flight-netting; flight note = flight call (a); flight-number, the identifying number of a flight (cf. 1 g above); flight path (see quot. 1919); the planned course of an aircraft or space vehicle from point to point; also transf.; flight plan Aeronaut., the prearranged scheme for a particular flight; so flight-plan v. intr., flight-planning vbl. n.; flight recorder, a device in an aircraft which records the relevant technical details of each flight, in order to assist investigation in the event of an accident; hence flight recording vbl. n.; flight refuelling, refuelling of an aircraft whilst in flight; so flight-refuel v. trans.; † flight-ripe a., fit to fly; flight-shaft = flight-arrow; flight simulator, an apparatus designed to simulate the actual conditions of flight, used esp. by airline pilots in training; flight-test v. trans., to test an aircraft, missile, etc., during flight; so flight-testing vbl. n. Also flight-shooting, shot.
1801T. Roberts Eng. Bowman vi. 153 Roving arrows are much heavier, and *flight arrows much lighter, than others. 1881Greener Gun 6 The longest well-authenticated distance for shooting with flight-arrows is about 600 yards.
1947W. L. Grossman Air Passenger Traffic xii. 176 By picking up..the flight coupons, with the passengers' names on them, after the passengers are seated, a *flight attendant knows where, say, Mrs. Johnson is located and can address her by name. 1957Occupational Outlook Handbk. (U.S. Dept. Labor) 561/1 Stewardesses or stewards (sometimes called flight attendants) are aboard almost all passenger planes operated by the commercial airlines. 1976Globe & Mail (Toronto) 16 Feb. 9/1 Air Canada flight attendant Mary Dohey today will become the third and only living recipient of Canada's highest award for bravery, the Cross of Valor. 1982Sci. Amer. Nov. 19/3 It is nice to see ‘stewardess’ and ‘steward’ gradually being replaced by the general term ‘flight attendant’.
1937Brit. Birds XXXI. 98 When disturbed, they flew up without travelling far, producing a whinnying and metallic *flight-call. 1959Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles VIII. 63 Birds flying about the island.., calling with a soft squeaky note..not unlike the flight call of the stormy petrel. 1969‘J. Munro’ Innocent Bystanders vi. 86 They were in the departure lounge, waiting for their flight call.
1937Discovery Oct. 277/2 Since the reaction thrust, acting from the extreme rear of the plane, is in no way different from the pull of the aero engine in its nose, and remains in fixed relation to the aeroplane axis, stability and *flight-control are not interfered with. 1959F. D. Adams Aeronaut. Dict. 75/1 Flight control, 1. In plural. Controls for guiding or trimming an aircraft, missile, [etc.]. 2. A general if somewhat loose term applied to any activity or organization that directs and controls the movement of aircraft. 1969Sunday Times 13 July 13/2 Flight Control System, a system that serves to maintain stability and control during the flight.
1951Philippine Air Lines Timetable 15 May 2 P.A.L.'s experienced *flight crews, with skilled American pilots and trained cabin attendants, are your assurance of a perfect trip. 1958‘N. Shute’ Rainbow & Rose i. 14 The flight crew were getting ready to take off the freighter. 1965Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) §16 Flight crew (operating crew), those members of the aircrew whose primary concern is the operation and navigation of the aircraft and its safety in flight.
1924Sci. Amer. Oct. 248/2 On the *flight deck there are various devices for checking the speed of landing airplanes. 1936Meccano Mag. June 325 The members of the flight deck party are rushing out to seize the machine as she comes to a standstill. 1949Aeronautics Nov. 44/1 As one might expect, the Brabazon's flight deck is spacious and well laid out. 1958Oxf. Mail 19 July 1/2 Rebel snipers fired on one of the planes..and hit it twice. One shot went through the flight deck. 1964D. Macintyre Battle for Mediterranean iii. 47 But for her armoured flight deck which absorbed the shock of some of the hits, the Illustrious must have been sunk. 1971Guardian 29 June 6/4 Airlines have been warned to review flight deck procedure after an air miss..between a BOAC VC10 and an El Al Boeing.
1938Flight 21 July 67/2 Opposite the captain's desk are the *flight engineer's quarters. 1939Meccano Mag. Oct. 570/3 The radio operator occupies a position behind them, and a little farther aft is the flight engineer, both on the port side of the cabin. 1958‘N. Shute’ Rainbow & Rose vi. 226, I was talking to Dick Scott, my new flight engineer. 1965Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms (B.S.I.) §16 Flight engineer, a member of the flight crew responsible for engineering duties.
1944Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. XLVIII. 488 The best known of the envelope cases is the ‘*flight envelope’, which is in general use in this country and in the United States... The ‘flight envelope’ covers all probable conditions of symmetrical manœuvring flight instead of the few isolated points specified in the previous system. 1966McGraw-Hill Encycl. Sci. & Technol. I. 177 (caption) Airplane flight envelope, speed and range, medium altitude. 1966D. Stinton Anat. of Aeroplane ii. 10 The operational environment of an aircraft lies within a boundary, drawn on a basis of speed and height, called the flight-envelope... The outline marks the limit of performance in one particular configuration.
1735J. Moore Columbarium 35 The nine *flight Feathers of the Wing. 1890Coues Field Ornith. ii. iii. 164 The Remiges, or Flight-Feathers, give the wing its general character.
1605in Court & Times Jas. I (1848) I. 38 Some Popish *flight-heads thinking to do wonders.
1933Brit. Birds XXVI. 366 The migratory *flight-line of the others appears to lie well off the shores of west Wales. 1956W. A. Heflin U.S.A.F. Dict. 210/2 Flight line, on an airfield, a general area including the hangars and the ramps and other grounds between and surrounding the hangars where aircraft are parked, serviced, etc. 1958Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles VII. 147 The majority of the large flocks..travel by two main flight-lines. 1971Country Life 25 Feb. 407/2 In America, the native geese regularly move on well-plotted flight lines.
1890W. P. Ball Effects Use & Disuse 64 The shortening of the sternum in pigeons is attributed to disuse of the *flight muscles attached to it.
1889Leisure Hour 675/2 The birds caught in the *flight nets are sold to a dealer. 1960E. Ennion House on Shore vi. 78 The flight-net has been reintroduced recently..to ‘control’ oystercatchers in Morecambe Bay.
1897Pearson's Mag. 216/2 The birds when captured are packed into large bags, and are carried in this way to the *flight-netter's home.
1897Pearson's Mag. Feb. 213 (heading) *Flight-netting for wildfowl.
1937Discovery Feb. 47/2 He [sc. an owl] has..a loud *flight-note..like the quacking of a duck. 1961Bannerman Birds Brit. Isles IX. 77 J. T. Nichols, who considers this the ‘flight note’ of the transient bird.
1949Internat. Air Transport Assoc. Bull. Dec. 136 *Flight number, which is equivalent to the term line number, means the numerical designation of a flight. 1953C. Day Lewis Italian Visit i. 21 We have Ten minutes until our flight-number is called. 1955E. Bowen World of Love xi. 204, I don't even know where he's coming from... Harris will have the flight-number.
1911Chambers's Jrnl. I. 55/2 Instruments which will exhibit the angle of the *flight-path. 1919W. B. Faraday Gloss. Aeronaut. Terms 52 Flight path, the path of the centre of gravity of an aircraft with reference to the air. 1967Sunday Mail Mag. (Brisbane) 1 Oct. 5/1 The peregrine flew towards it... Every bird in her flightpath froze to the ground. 1969Times 19 Feb. 13/6 Another experiment..will measure the mass and distance of Mars simply by tracking the spacecraft and measuring the effect the planet exerts on its flight path. Ibid. 10 Mar. 10/1 Fortunately none of the flight paths used by the birds crosses the airport.
1936M. B. Garber Mod. Mil. Dict. 135 *Flight plan, a plan for an aerial flight, setting forth the probable time of departure, direction of flight.., with estimated time of arrival. 1940Meccano Mag. July 322/3 These flight plans cannot be standardised like a railway timetable, because of the great effect changes in weather have on the aircraft. 1945Aeroplane 30 Nov. 638/2 Aircraft ex-Baltimore could always ‘flight-plan’ for Stephenville. 1971Guardian 3 July 1/7 The pilot filed a flight plan for Trinidad with the airport tower.
1959Listener 26 Feb. 372/1 Good *flight planning—to use a term already long in use in terrestrial air navigation—is going to be of the highest value [in space navigation]. 1971Flying Apr. S5/1 Not enough pilots seem ready to lay out hard cash for weather and flight-planning information.
1948Shell Aviation News cxv. 5/1 The Civil Aeronautics Board is now requiring all U.S. certified airlines to install *flight recorders on their aircraft by 30th June, 1948. 1964Flight recorder [see black box (black a. 19)]. 1971Times 4 Oct. 1/3 Vital clues to the cause of the crash..were gained yesterday when the flight recorder was decoded.
1962Flight Internat. LXXXI. 945/1 The relatively new art of *flight recording.
1963Economist 23 Nov. 733/1 TSR 2 can be *flight-refuelled.
1939Air Ann. Brit. Emp. 50 *Flight refuelling..is likely to become a prominent means of allowing flight at very high wing loadings. 1947Shell Aviation News cxiii. 14/1 It is fairly generally known that a series of flight-refuelling trials has recently taken place, in conjunction with British South American Airways.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xii. i. (Tollem. MS.), Whan hire [the eagle's] briddes beth *flyȝte-ripe sche putteþ hem oute of hire neste.
1597Daniel Civ. Wars viii. xv, Brave Falconbridge..assigned The archers their *flight-shafts, to shoot away. 1840Hansard Archery xi. 407 Barely within the range of his lightest flight-shaft.
1947Electronics June 154/1 Installation of Teheran receiver in cockpit of *flight simulator brings this air navigation aid to the second of three..steps in its development. 1950Jrnl. R. Aeronaut. Soc. LIV. 600/1 One recent development which should help both to raise the standard of training and reduce the time and cost of non-revenue flying involved in crew training is the ‘flight simulator’. This ground equipment is designed to reproduce exactly the control cabin of the selected aircraft type, with all instruments and controls. 1961Engineering 12 May 677/1 Control of an aircraft in bad flying conditions can now be tested on the ground by a machine..known as a ‘rocking cockpit’ or..flight simulator.
1931C. Sprigg Airship xiv. 210 Before the rigid airship can be used on a commercial service it must be thoroughly *flight-tested under every variety of conditions. 1958Observer 9 Nov. 1/8 This is a new solid fuel rocket that had been flight-tested only once before. 1969Times 3 June (Suppl.) p. iii/5 He [sc. Neil Armstrong] became a Nasa research pilot in 1955 and flight-tested the X-15 rocket plane.
1943Sci. News Let. 30 Jan. 73/3 (heading) *Flight testing advances win award for MacClain. 1961Shell Aviation News Dec. 2/2 With the coming of auto-observers and telemetry, ‘test flying’ has been gradually and unobtrusively ousted by ‘flight testing’.
▸ A selection of small portions of a particular type of food or drink, esp. wine, intended to be tasted together for the purpose of comparison.
1978N.Y. Times 29 Mar. c17/2 There were four flights of wines, as they say in the trade, four spätleses, four ausleses,..[etc.]. 1983Washington Post (Nexis) 14 Dec. e1 They turned the dinner into a smoked salmon tasting... Each flight of the tasting was garnished differently. 1997Sydney Morning Herald (Nexis) 17 June (Good Living) 2 An inviting line-up of the famous single malt whiskeys available in tasting flights. 2005L. L. Narlock & N. Garfinkel Wine Lover's Guide Wine Country 151 The tasting bar offers three to six flights of wine in several categories: classic, prestige, all white, and all red.
▪ II. flight, n.2|flaɪt|
Forms: 3 fluht, fliht, Orm. flihht, vliht, 4 fliȝt, (fluiȝt, flyight, flyȝt), 4–6 flyght, Sc. flicht, flycht, (6 flyette), 4– flight.
[OE. *flyht = OS. fluht (Du. vlucht), OHG. fluht (MHG. vlucht, mod.Ger. flucht) str. fem.:—OTeut. *þluhti-z f. weak grade of root *þleuh- to flee. A parallel form, differing in declension, is ON. flótte, the OTeut. type of which would be *þlohton-; the Sw. flykt, Da. flygt are adopted from Ger.]
1. a. The action of fleeing or running away from, or as from, danger, etc.; hasty departure or retreat, also, an absconding.
c1200Ormin 19683 Forr þatt he wollde þurrh hiss flihht Uss mikell þing bitacnenn. c1275Lay. 21405 Ne mihte he fliht makie in neuere one side. a1375Joseph Arim. 506 Þat luyte miȝte faren him fro and to fluiȝt founden. c1425Wyntoun Cron. viii. xlii. 143 In fycht is mensk, and schame in flycht. 1526Tindale Matt. xxiv. 20 Praye that youre flyght be not in the winther. 1591Shakes. Two Gent. iv. iv. 173 'Twas Ariadne, passioning For Thesus periury, and vniust flight. 1760–72tr. Juan & Ulloa's Voy. (ed. 3) II. 344 It was..after eleven when the Delivrance thus began to seek her safety in flight. 1769Blackstone Comm. IV. 380 For the very flight is an offence, carrying with it a strong presumption of guilt. 1855‘Stonehenge’ Rur. Sports i. i. x. (1856) 83 The direction of the Deer's flight is almost always up-wind. 1882J. H. Blunt Ref. Ch. Eng. II. 367 Many benefices had become vacant through the flight of the Marian clergy.
†b. Abhorrence or avoidance of; shrinking from.
1398Trevisa Barth. De P.R. iii. vi. (1495) 53 In the Irascibil is flyghte of contrarye and of euyll. 1626Bacon Sylva §766 The emission..of the Breath by a flight from Titillation. 1651tr. Bacon's Life & Death 57 They contract themselves partly by their flight of Vacuum. 1665Hooke Microgr. 16 The antipathy or flight of others from each other.
c. A means of fleeing, way of escape. rare—1.
1819Shelley Cyclops 438 How secure a flight [I have] From your hard servitude.
d. curve of flight: a correlative term to curve of pursuit: see curve n. 1.
1867Thomson & Tait Nat. Phil. I. i. §40 The remainder of the curve satisfies a modified form of statement of the original question, and is called the Curve of Flight.
†e. sure flight (jocularly): ? one who is able to run away safely. Obs.
1599Nashe Lenten Stuffe 11 Such..as were sure flights, (sauing a reuerence of their manhoods) ran crying and complayning to King Henry the Second.
f. Economics. The selling of a particular currency by foreign holders, e.g. in anticipation of a fall in its value; the withdrawal of investments from a particular country.
1923Ann. Reg. 1922 ii. 88 The instability of money caused a continuous flight from the mark in Germany, the normal consequence of inflation. 1930Economist 27 Sept. 554/1 For a few days at the beginning of the week there was an incipient flight from the mark, the French withdrawing funds. 1938Times 18 Feb. 21/2 The ease with which..‘flight’ money is prepared to exchange its refuge—either from one currency to another, or from currencies into gold or from gold into currencies. 1948G. Crowther Outl. Money (ed. 2) vii. 205 There is..no less money [in London] as the result of a ‘flight of foreign capital’. All that has happened is that..a smaller proportion..of the total of British money belongs to foreigners. 1967Times 4 Aug. 19/8 It is a fallacy to conclude that such sales [by London banks] must represent a flight from the pound by UK residents.
2. Phrases: to take flight, † to take (on oneself) the flight, to betake or † smite oneself to flight, to take to flight, † to set oneself in flight: to flee. † to bring or do on (usually a, o) flight, to put to († the) flight (or † upon the flight): to cause to flee. to turn to or † into flight: to cause to flee, in early use also intr. to flee.
a1225Ancr. R. 248 Etstondeð one aȝean þe ueonde & he deð him o fluhte. Ibid. Herdi bileaue bringeð þene deouel a vlihte anon-rihtes. a1225Juliana 45, I þat ilke time we biginneð to fleon & turneð to fluhte. 1375Barbour Bruce ii. 267 For it suld be full mekill mycht, That now suld put thaim to the flycht. c1489Caxton Sonnes of Aymon ix. 243 Whan they..sawe Reynawde come they smote theym selfe to flyghte. c1500Lancelot 3014 Ȝhone folk sal tak one them the flycht. 1526Tindale Heb. xi. 34 Which..wexed valient in fyght, turned to flyght the armees of the alients. 1625–6Purchas Pilgrims II. 1128 They presently set themselves in flight. a1639Spottiswood Hist. Ch. Scotl. iii. (1655) 145 The French..took the flight and retired to the Town. 1745P. Thomas Jrnl. Anson's Voy. 207 It was his wisest Course to..betake himself to flight. 1816J. Marriott Hymn, ‘Thou, Whose Almighty word’ i, Chaos and darkness..took their flight. 1817Shelley Rev. Islam vi. xiv. 1 That onset turned the foes to flight almost. 1840F. D. Bennett Whaling Voy. I. 258 The remainder..took to flight when their companions were harpooned. 1849Grote Greece ii. lxxiii. (1862) VI. 422 The Persians were put to flight.
3. Comb., as flight-given, inclined to flee.
c1611Chapman Iliad ii. 158 What prince.. He found *flight-giv'n, he would restrain with words of gentlest blame.
▪ III. † flight, n.3 Obs.
[var. of flaught n.1 (? OE. *fliht:—*flahti-z).]
= flaught n.1 a. A flake of snow. b. A violent storm (of snow). c. A turf.
1483Cath. Angl. 135/2 A Flyghte of snawe, floccus niueus. 1685Sewall Diary 9 Nov. (1882) I. 103 Flight of snow. 1780in T. Hutchinson Diary II. 349 The trees..covered with snow this morning; afterwards several flights of snow. 1811W. J. Hooker Iceland (1813) II. 116 A flight of snow had recently fallen. 1847Halliwell, Flights, turf or peat, cut into square pieces for fuel.
▪ IV. † flight, a. Obs.
[f. flight n.1 Cf. fleet a.]
1. Swift, fleet, fast-moving.
1581B. R. tr. Herodotus 69 The most flight and swifte creature that liveth on the earth. 1596Copley Fig for Fort. 21 So flight is Melancholie to darke disgrace And deadly drowsie to a bright good morrow. 1609Holland Amm. Marcell. xxvii. x. 321 This man, a certain twofold fortune..carrying with her flight-wings [L. præpetibus pinnis] shewed [etc.]. 1642H. More Song of Soul ii. iii. iii. lix, That courses of unlike extension..in like time shall be run By the flight starres.
b. used as n.: A swift runner. ? nonce-use.
1579–80North Plutarch (1657) 28 Young men called Celeres, as we would say, flights, for their swiftnesse and speed in executing of his commandements.
2. Of oats: Light. (Cf. flight n.1 11).
1797A. Young Agric. Suffolk 56 The light, called also flight oats, are known only on the poorest sands, and in the fen district.
▪ V. flight, v.|flaɪt|
Also 6 Sc. flicht.
[f. flight n.1 and n.2]
1. trans. To put to flight, rout; hence, to frighten, scare. Obs. exc. dial.
1571Campion Hist. Irel. ii. i. (1633) 63 But Griffin..flighted the Kyrneghes, and slew Ororick. 1579–80North Plutarch (1657) 245 Mount Ptoum..from whence the wild Bore came of a sudden that flighted her. 1583Golding Calvin on Deut. vii. 41 Else..they should haue bene flighted with the wildernesse which was verie dreadfull. 1603Harsnet Pop. Impost. 16 To Flight the Deviles from Fulmer. 1848E. Brontë Wuthering Heights (1858) 29 ‘And at the end of it to be flighted to death!’ he said.
fig.1676Glanvill Ess. iv. 34 Therefore [philosophy] is to be flighted [? mispr. for slighted], and exploded among Christians.
†2. intr. To fluctuate, change. Obs. Sc.
1500–20Dunbar Poems xxiv. 6 This warld evir dois flicht and wary.
3.
†a. To migrate; = flit, fleet (obs.).
b. Of wild fowl: To fly in flights.
1604Middleton Witch iii. iii, Prepare to flight then: I'll over-take you swiftly. [But flight may here be the n.2] 1752Scotland's Glory 5 The followers of John divine In Scotland when they flighted, And published here the Gospel news. 1873Young Englishwoman Nov. 531/1 The habit of the wild fowl is this... At evening they ‘flight’ to the uplands. 1879R. Lubbock Fauna of Norfolk 117 If undisturbed..they [snipe] merely flight for a few minutes morning and evening. 1891Ld. Houghton Stray Verses, In Winter 11 The wildfowl flighting from the lake Wheel high.
4. trans. To set flying, start in flight. to flight off: to start off in flights, send away in flights.
1823New Monthly Mag. VII. 123 The superabundant population may be flighted off to the lunar region. 1892Northumbld. Gloss., ‘Aa'll flight ye pigeons for a shillin'.’
5. To shoot (wildfowl) in flight.
1892Cornh. Mag. Aug. 155 Wildfowlers know this habit well, and ‘flighting’, or shooting them as they go and come, is a favourite method of procuring wild ducks.
6. To feather (an arrow).
1869Boutell Arms & Arm. ii. 34 The arrows, which had iron tips, were flighted with feathers. 1890C. Dixon Stray Feathers ii. 20 The stiff quill feathers..are used by savages to flight their arrows.
7. Cricket. To vary the trajectory and pace of (the ball) in its flight before pitching. Also intr.
1912P. F. Warner Eng. v. Austral. iv. 33 Woolley kept an excellent length, and ‘flighted’ the ball. 1925Country Life 18 July 95/1 This power of varying the trajectory of the ball and its pace is known as ‘flighting’ the ball. 1955Times 16 Aug. 3/3 He flighted and turned from leg just enough on what had previously seemed to be an easy paced surface. 1961Times 16 May 4 Cowper had been bowling slow flighted off-breaks.
▪ VI. flight
var. of flite. |