[f. the vbl. phrase.]
1. One who flies by night; one addicted to nocturnal excursions. Also slang, One who defrauds his landlord or creditors by decamping in the night.
1796. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue (ed. 3), s.v. You old fly-by-night; an ancient term of reproach to an old woman, signifying that she was a witch.
1822. T. L. Peacock, Maid Marian, iii. 191. Would you have her married to a wild fly-by-night that accident made an earl and nature a deer-stealer?
1823. ‘Jon Bee,’ Slang, Fly-by-night, runaways who leave empty houses.
1894. Daily News, 23 Oct., 4/7. The majority of the race [of moths] are fly-by-nights.
attrib. 1810. W. Combe, The Devil upon Two Sticks in England (1817), VI. 73. ‘The Fly by Night Club,’ whose symbol is an owl.
2. = FLY sb.2 3 b. b. Naut. (See quot.)
1818. Sporting Mag., II. 6. A species of carriage, which in Gloucestershire, goes by the name of ‘Fly-by-Night.’
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Fly-by-night, a sort of square-sail, like a studding-sail, used in sloops when running before the wind.
