flight

• enPR: flīt, IPA^(key): /flaɪt/

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• Rhymes: -aɪt

A Mikoyan MiG-17F jet in flight

A flight of stairs.

From Middle English flight, from Old English flyht (“flight”), from Proto-Germanic *fluhtiz (“flight”), derived from *fleuganą (“to fly”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“to fly”), enlargement of *plew- (“flow”). Analyzable as fly +‎ -t (variant of -th). Cognate with West Frisian flecht (“flight”), Dutch vlucht (“flight”), German Flucht (“flight”) (etymology 2).

flight (countable and uncountable, plural flights)

1. The act of flying.

   Birds are capable of flight.

2. An instance of flying.

   The migrating birds' flight took them to Africa.

3. (collective) A collective term for doves or swallows.

   a flight of swallows

4. A trip made by an aircraft, particularly one between two cities or countries, which is often planned or reserved in advance.

   The flight to Paris leaves at 7 o'clock tonight.

   Where is the departure gate for flight 747? / Go straight down and to the right.

5. A series of stairs between landings.
6. A floor which is reached by stairs or escalators.

   How many flights is it up?

7. A feather on an arrow or dart used to help it follow an even path.
8. A paper plane.
9. (cricket) The movement of a spinning ball through the air - concerns its speed, trajectory and drift.
10. The ballistic trajectory of an arrow or other projectile.
11. An aerodynamic surface designed to guide such a projectile's trajectory.
12. An air force unit.
13. Several sample glasses of a specific wine varietal or other beverage. The pours are smaller than a full glass and the flight will generally include three to five different samples.
14. (engineering) The shaped material forming the thread of a screw.

flight (comparative more flight, superlative most flight)

1. (obsolete) Fast, swift, fleet.

flight (third-person singular simple present flights, present participle flighting, simple past and past participle flighted)

1. (cricket, of a spin bowler) To throw the ball in such a way that it has more airtime and more spin than usual.
2. (sports, by extension, transitive) To throw or kick something so as to send it flying with more loft or airtime than usual.
   • 2017 March 14, Stuart James, “Leicester stun Sevilla to reach last eight after Kasper Schmeichel save”, in the Guardian‎:

     Riyad Mahrez flighted the free-kick that followed to the far post and Morgan, with not much finesse but plenty of desire, bundled the ball over the line. Cue pandemonium in the stands.

Appendix:English collective nouns

From Middle English, from Old English flyht, from Proto-Germanic *fluhtiz, derived from *fleuhaną (“to flee”). Analyzable as flee +‎ -t (variant of -th). Cognate with Dutch vlucht, German Flucht (etymology 1).

flight (countable and uncountable, plural flights)

1. The act of fleeing.

   take flight

   the flight of a refugee

• flee

From Old English flyht.

flight (plural flights)

1. flight (act of flying)