(historical) A type of small, light, fast horse-drawn carriage that can be hired for transportation (sometimes pluralised flys).
Subject Item
_:vb7046538
rdf:value
A fly carried him rapidly to Lady Clavering’s house from the station […]
dcterms:bibliographicCitation
1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 74, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume , London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC:
Subject Item
_:vb7046539
rdf:value
Can I get a fly, or a carriage of any kind? Is it too late?I dismissed the fly a mile distant from the park, and getting my directions from the driver, proceeded by myself to the house.
dcterms:bibliographicCitation
1859, Wilkie Collins, The Woman in White[1]:
Subject Item
_:vb7046540
rdf:value
A glass coach, it may be as well to observe, is a carriage and pair hired by the day, and a fly a one-horse carriage hired in a similar manner.
dcterms:bibliographicCitation
1861, Henry Mayhew, William Tuckniss, London Labour and the London Poor: A Cyclopœdia of the Condition and Earnings of Those that Will Work, Those that Cannot Work, and Those that Will Not Work, volume 3, page 359:
Subject Item
_:vb7046541
rdf:value
As we left the house in my fly, which had been waiting, Van Helsing said:— ‘Tonight I can sleep in peace [...].’
dcterms:bibliographicCitation
1897, Bram Stoker, Dracula, New York, N.Y.: Modern Library, →OCLC:
Subject Item
_:vb7046542
rdf:value
“ […] She takes the whole thing with desperate seriousness. But the others are all easy and jovial—thinking about the good fare that is soon to be eaten, about the hired fly, about anything.”
dcterms:bibliographicCitation
1918, W[illiam] B[abington] Maxwell, chapter XVI, in The Mirror and the Lamp, Indianapolis, Ind.: The Bobbs-Merrill Company, →OCLC:
Subject Item
_:vb7046543
rdf:value
And, driving back in the fly, Macmaster said to himself that you couldn't call Mrs. Duchemin ordinary, at least.
dcterms:bibliographicCitation
1924, Ford Madox Ford, Some Do Not… (Parade's End), Penguin, published 2012, page 54:
Subject Item
_:vb7046544
rdf:value
Then we read at New Southgate and Colney Hatch, that "Cabs are on stand at station from 9 a.m. to departure of last down train. Private omnibuses, flys and other conveniences can be had at short notice on application to Messrs. Walker & Son." At country stations we are often told, "a fly may be obtained on application to Mrs. Brown of the Black Dog," or some other cheery information.
dcterms:bibliographicCitation
1941 December, “Notes and News: Timetable features of the Past”, in Railway Magazine, page 570:
Subject Item
_:vb7046545
rdf:value
Chepstow is good for excursions, and Bradshaw tells me I can get a fly to Tintern Abbey, although the fare structure seems particularly complicated. Alternatively, I could go for a simpler choice and just opt for "single horse, 1s", although I doubt I'd survive to tell the tale.
dcterms:bibliographicCitation
2023 February 22, Stephen Roberts, “Reading... between the lines... to Wales”, in RAIL, number 977, page 59: