- gadfly
- noun Etymology: 1gad Date: 1593 1. any of various flies (as a horsefly, botfly, or warble fly) that bite or annoy livestock 2. a person who stimulates or annoys especially by persistent criticism
New Collegiate Dictionary. 2001.
gadfly
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Gadfly — can refer to: *Gadfly, a type of fly typically belonging to either the family Tabanidae (Horse fly) or Oestridae (Botfly) *Gadfly (social), a term for people who upset the status quo *Gadfly (database), a relational database in the Python… … Wikipedia
Gadfly — Gad fly (g[a^]d fl[imac] ), n.; pl. {Gadflies}. [Gad + fly.] (Zo[ o]l.) Any dipterous insect of the genus {Oestrus}, and allied genera of botflies. [1913 Webster] Note: The sheep gadfly ({Oestrus ovis}) deposits its young in the nostrils of sheep … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
gadfly — (n.) 1620s, fly which bites cattle, probably from GAD (Cf. gad) (n.) goad, metal rod, here in the sense of stinger; but the sense is entangled with gad (v.) and another early meaning of gadfly was someone who likes to go about, often stopping… … Etymology dictionary
gadfly — [n] goad; nuisance annoyance, energizer, excitant, irritant, motivator, mover, pest, prod, spur, stimulator; concepts 412,674 … New thesaurus
gadfly — ► NOUN 1) a fly that bites livestock, especially a horsefly, warble fly, or botfly. 2) an annoying and provocative person. ORIGIN from GAD(Cf. ↑gad), or obsolete gad goad, spike , from Old Norse … English terms dictionary
gadfly — [gad′flī΄] n. pl. gadflies [ GAD2 + FLY2] 1. any of several large flies, as the horsefly, that bite livestock 2. a person who annoys others, esp. by rousing them from complacency … English World dictionary
Gadfly — A slang term for an investor who attends the annual shareholders meeting to criticize the corporation s executives. A gadfly addresses many issues for the shareholders, often grilling the management by asking difficult or embarrassing questions.… … Investment dictionary
gadfly — n. annoying person a gadfly to (the reporter was a constant gadfly to the government) * * * [ annoying person ] a gadfly to (the reporter was a constant gadfly to the government) … Combinatory dictionary
gadfly — [[t]gæ̱dflaɪ[/t]] gadflies N COUNT If you refer to someone as a gadfly, you believe that they deliberately annoy or challenge other people, especially people in authority. It still remains to be seen whether Buchanan will be just a gadfly or a… … English dictionary
gadfly — UK [ˈɡædˌflaɪ] / US noun [countable] Word forms gadfly : singular gadfly plural gadflies 1) mainly literary someone who continuously annoys another person or an organization, usually by criticizing them 2) a fly that bites cows and horses … English dictionary
gadfly — Breeze Breeze, Breeze fly Breeze fly , n. [OE. brese, AS. bri[ o]sa; perh. akin to OHG. brimissa, G. breme, bremse, D. brems, which are akin to G. brummen to growl, buzz, grumble, L. fremere to murmur; cf. G. brausen, Sw. brusa, Dan. bruse, to… … The Collaborative International Dictionary of English
