gadfly
/ˈɡædˌflaɪ/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: 2.12 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
Any dipterous (“two-winged”) insect or fly of the family Oestridae (commonly known as a bot fly) or Tabanidae (horse fly), noted for irritating animals by buzzing about them, and biting them to suck their blood; a gadbee.
noun
A person or thing that irritates or instigates.
noun
A person or thing that irritates or instigates.
Example Sentences
- "He that made that ryme in jeſt, little conſidered what a gad-fly may doe in earneſt. It is ſmall wiſedome to contemne the ſmalleſt enemy; the gad-fly is a little creature, but ſome little creatures be ſtingers; […]"
- "Light fly his ſlumbers, if perchance a flight / Of angry gad-flies faſten on the herd; […]"
- "The nomads of Africa are constrained to wander by the attacks of the gadfly, which drives the cattle mad, and so compels the tribe to emigrate in the rainy season and drive off the cattle to the higher sandy regions."
- "Vengeful Hera transformed her [Io] into an animal (a beautiful cow), and imposed upon her the company of a gadfly to sting her continuously, thus forcing her to escape on an endless pilgrimage."
- "VVhat gad flye tickles ſo this Macrinus, / That vp-flinging thy tayle, he breakes thus from me."
- "There is a function for the gadfly who poses questions that many specialists would like to overlook. Polemics is healthy."
Etymology
From gad (“sharp point, spike; (dialectal) sharp-pointed rod for driving cattle, horses, etc., goad”) + fly, in the sense of a fly which irritates cattle, etc., by biting them, similar to the prodding of a goad. Gad is derived from Middle English gad, gadde (“metal spike with a sharp point; stick with a sharp point for driving animals, goad; metal bar or rod, ingot; (by extension) lump of material; metal rod for measuring land; (by extension) unit of linear measure equal to about 10 to 16 feet”), borrowed from Old Norse gaddr (“spike; goad”), from Proto-Germanic *gazdaz (“spike; goad”), further etymology uncertain. Displaced native Old English bēaw. Sense 2.1.1 (“person who upsets the status quo”) may allude to the Apology by the Greek philosopher Plato (428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 B.C.E.), where he describes Socrates (c. 470 – 399 B.C.E.) acting as a goad to the Athenian political scene like a gadfly (Ancient Greek μῠ́ωψ (mŭ́ōps)) arousing a sluggish horse.
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈɡædˌflaɪ/
- British English: /ˈɡædflaɪ/