flyer

Etymology

It is formed from English fly + -er, the agent noun of the verb.^[2][3][4][5] The Middle English form was flīer, formed from flīen (“to fly; to flee”) and the agent suffix.^[6][7][8] The verb goes back to Old English flēogan (“to fly”).^[9] Barnhart finds the word earlier as a surname in 1289.^[7] The Middle English Dictionary also records it as a personal name.^[7]

Earliest recorded meaning

A thing that flies: about 1440, in the Promptorium Parvulorum, which glosses flyare with Latin volator.^[2][6][7] The Middle English Dictionary also gives the senses "bird-catcher", "volatile substance" and "fugitive".^[6]

Semantic evolution

Besides living things that fly, the word was used from 1471, in Ripley's alchemy, for a volatile spirit.^[2][6] From the 17th century it named mechanical parts that revolve quickly: an appliance regulating a roasting-jack (1674), a windmill sail (1790), the part of a spinning machine that twists the thread (1825).^[2][4] Wright records the fan-wheel of a windmill in Lincolnshire and part of a spinning-wheel in Yorkshire.^[10] Johnson (1755) gave first the sense "one that flies or runs away".^[11] From 1795, in Nelson's letters, a flyer was anything exceptionally fast: a fish, horse or ship,^[2][3][4] a fast sailing ship in sailors' use,^[12] a fast kangaroo in Australia,^[2][13] and in American use an express train.^[14] The sense "speculative venture" is American, from the 1820s or 1840s,^[15][3][4] and the handbill, scattered widely, is first American slang of 1889, at first especially for police bulletins.^[3][4] With aviation came "flying machine" (1880)^[2] and "aviator", which Etymonline dates to 1916, in the First World War, while the OED's first record is from 1934.^[3][2][7]

Timeline

• 1289 – Flier as a surname.^[7]
• c. 1440 – a creature or thing that flies.^[2][6][7]
• 1471 – a volatile spirit (obsolete).^[2][6]
• 1674 – an appliance regulating the motion of a roasting-jack.^[2]
• 1790 – a sail of a windmill.^[2]
• 1795 – something that moves exceptionally fast.^[2][3]
• 1821 – a wager or speculative investment.^[15]
• 1825 – part of a spinning machine.^[2]
• 1848 – a fast kangaroo (Australian).^[2]
• 1880 – a flying machine.^[2]
• 1888 – an express train.^[14]
• 1889 – a handbill, in American slang.^[3]
• 1913 – in cricket, a short ball that flies up sharply.^[2]
• 1916 – an aviator, in Etymonline; 1934 in the OED.^[3][2]

Meanings

Noun

1. A person or thing that flies, such as a bird, insect or aircraft: Swifts are tireless flyers.^[2][4][8]
2. A pilot or aviator.^[2][4][8]
3. A small handbill or leaflet, especially one used for advertising: They handed out flyers for the concert.^[4][8][3]
4. A person, animal or vehicle that moves very fast, such as a fast horse, ship or express train.^{[2][4][8][14]}
5. A risky or speculative venture, especially a financial one.^[4][8][15] In the phrase take a flyer, to take a chance.^[4][8][15]
6. (Australian) A fast kangaroo.^[2][13]
7. (cricket) A ball pitched short that flies up sharply; a bouncer.^[2][4]
8. A part of a machine that turns quickly, such as the part of a spinning machine that twists the thread.^[2][4]
9. A person who flees; a fugitive.^{[4][8][11][6]}

Related words

• fly
• flier
• flight
• high-flyer
• flee

Usage notes

Both spellings, flyer and flier, are in good use: the OED found flyer more common in its recent quotations, despite the analogy of crier and trier,^[2] and Collins treats flier as a variant of flyer.^[16] Merriam-Webster enters the word as flier, also flyer, but notes that flyer is the usual spelling for an advertising circular and for something that moves very fast.^[8][17]

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y Oxford English Dictionary Online (accessed March 2026), Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c d e f g h i Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
4. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Shorter Oxford English Dictionary on Historical Principles (2002), 5th ed., ed. William R. Trumble and Angus Stevenson, Oxford: Oxford University Press
5. ^ Dictionary.com Unabridged (2016), based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, New York: Random House
6. ^ a b c d e f g Kurath, Hans; Kuhn, Sherman M.; Lewis, Robert E., eds. (1952–2001), Middle English Dictionary, Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press; online edition ed. Frances McSparran et al. (2000–2018)
7. ^ a b c d e f g Barnhart, Robert K. (1988), The Barnhart Dictionary of Etymology
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i Merriam-Webster Unabridged Dictionary (2024), online ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
9. ^ The Chambers Dictionary (2014), 13th ed., Edinburgh: Chambers
10. ^ Wright, Joseph, ed. (1898–1905), The English Dialect Dictionary, 6 vols., Oxford: Henry Frowde; via EDD Online 4.0, University of Innsbruck (CC BY 4.0)
11. ^ a b Johnson, Samuel (1755), A Dictionary of the English Language, London; 4th ed. 1773; Johnson's Dictionary Online, ed. Beth Rapp Young et al.
12. ^ Smyth, W. H. (1867), The Sailor's Word-Book: An Alphabetical Digest of Nautical Terms, London: Blackie and Son
13. ^ a b Morris, Edward E. (1898), Austral English: A Dictionary of Australasian Words, Phrases and Usages, London: Macmillan
14. ^ a b c Cassidy, Frederic G. & Joan Houston Hall (eds.) (1985–2002), Dictionary of American Regional English, vols I–IV, Cambridge, Mass.: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press
15. ^ a b c d Green, Jonathon (2010), Green's Dictionary of Slang, London: Chambers; digital ed. 2016–, https://greensdictofslang.com
16. ^ Collins English Dictionary (2023), Glasgow: HarperCollins
17. ^ Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster