Pa. t. and pa. pple. flied, flyed. [f. FLY sb.1 and 2.]
1. a. intr. To travel by a fly. b. trans. To convey in a fly.
1836. Southey, Lett. to Miss. K. Southey, 25 Nov. (1856), IV. 476. We flied with him over Quantock to Stowey. Ibid., 478. Poole flied us all the way to Sir T. Acland’s Somersetshire seat of Holnicot.
2. Printing. To do the office of a fly (see FLY sb.1 6) or fly-boy to. To fly the frisket (see quot. 1871). To fly the sheet: to lift it, by holding it at one end, into the printing machine; as opposed to stroking it in. Also, in U.S. (see quot. 1871).
1871. Amer. Encycl. Print., Fly the Frisket.—To turn down the frisket and tympan by the same motion. Ibid., s.v. Fly-boy.… When, from the nature of a power-press, or the peculiarities of any form, it is requisite that boys should assist in taking the printed sheets, one by one, from the form or the press, this operation is called flying the sheets.
3. In the Hardware trades: To stamp or cut out by means of a fly (FLY sb.2 5 i). Also with out.
