[f. FLY sb.1 + CATCHER.]
I. a. One who catches flies. b. A contrivance for catching flies.
a. 1600. Cornwallyes, Ess., xix. I am afraid of nothing, but that in this contemplatiue life I should be thought idle, and in eschewing companie, to be of Domitians sect, a Flycatcher.
1692. R. L’Estrange, Fables, cclviii. 225. The Swallow was a Fly-Catcher as well as the Spider, and no more an Inter-loper upon the Spider’s Right, then the Spider was upon the Swallows; for the Flies were in Common to Both.
1887. Pall Mall G., 5 Nov., 2/2. ‘The fly-catcher,’ as he [Darwin] was known to the crew, was a prime favourite.
fig. 1708. Motteux, Rabelais, V. xv. (1737), 61. Ye scurvy Fly-catchers you! [i.e., lawyers].
1889. Daily News, 5 Feb., 5/3. The quidnuncs and flycatchers.
b. 1848. Hardy, in Proc Berw. Nat. Club, II. No. 6. 321. This implement is much used in Cornwall, where it is called the ‘fly-catcher.’
1855. Anne Manning, Old Chelsea Bun-ho., vi. 91. After Tea, we all took out our Work, and my Mother began to snip a Fly-catcher.
2. A bird that catches flies; in England, usually one of the genus Muscicapa, esp. M. grisola; in America, usually one of the genus Tyrannus, T. Carolinensis or T. pipiri.
1678. Ray, Willughby’s Ornith., 217. Muscicapa, or Flie-catcher.
1777. G. Forster, Voy. round World, II. 358. The woods contained a variety of birds, especially several sorts of pigeons, parroquets, and fly-catchers.
1833. Selby, in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club, I. No. 1. 20. The spotted flycatcher (Muscicapa grisola).
1845. Darwin, Voy. Nat., x. (1852), 137. The plaintive note of a white-tufted tyrant-flycatcher may be heard, concealed near the summit of the most lofty trees.
1869. W. P. Turnbull, Birds E. Pennsylv., 21. Least Flycatcher … Empidonax minimus. Rather rare, arriving in April on its northern migration, and returning early in September.
1882. Hardy, in Proc. Berw. Nat. Club, IX. No. 3. 440. The rare pied flycatcher (Muscicapa atricapilla).
3. a. A spider that catches flies. b. A plant that catches flies; = FLY-TRAP 2.
1750. G. Hughes, Barbadoes, 91. The Fly-Catcher. This is of the Spider-kind, differing from it chiefly by a Pair of Forcipes, which rise from each Side of the Neck.
1863. Kingsley, Water-Bab., 13. Not such a spring as you see here, which soaks up out of a white gravel in the bog, among red fly-catchers, and pink bottle-heath, and sweet white orchis.
c. 1865. Ld. Brougham, in Circ. Sc., I. lntrod. Disc. 22. The Muscipula, Fly-trap, or Fly-catcher, which has small prickles in the inside of two leaves or half leaves, joined by a hinge; a juice or sirup is provided on their inner surface, which acts as a bait to allure flies.
