night-flyern.
/ˈnʌɪtˌflʌɪə/, U.S. /ˈnaɪtˈflaɪər/ A person who or animal (esp. a moth) which flies by night.In quot. 1722: a prisoner permitted to leave the prison at night.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > Heterocera > [noun] > member of (moth) > that flies at night
night-flyer1722
fly-by-night1894
1722 D. Defoe Moll Flanders (ed. 2) 346 I knew one Fellow, that while I was a Prisoner in Newgate, was one of those they called then Night-fliers,..who by Connivance was admitted to go Abroad every Evening.
1817 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. II. xxi. 265 The infinite hosts of moths.., with few exceptions, are all night-fliers.
1893 Science 21 July 39/2 The owl and the night-jar..are the most common night fliers.
1939 Science 10 Mar. 225/1 What the night flyer needs..is the power to change his vision quickly from the illuminated cockpit and instrument panel to the outside world and back again.
1965 Science 8 Jan. 173/2 Many of these moths are night flyers and are therefore exposed to predation by insectivorous bats.
1978 S. King Stand xliii. 489 The light-standards were on in the purple gloaming, moths and night-fliers banging softly against them.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2003; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1722