blowfly

Noun

blowfly (plural blowflies)

1. Any of various flies of the family Calliphoridae that lay their eggs in rotting meat, dung, or open wounds.
   • The flies that troubled me most were a large kind of blue-bottle or blow-fly. These settled in swarms on my bird skins when first put out to dry, filling their plumage with masses of eggs, which, if neglected, the next day produced maggots.1869, Alfred Russel Wallace, The Malay Archipelago, volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., page 329
   • The blowfly was her next victim, but an unexciting one. Pulling off its legs, she placed it with the hornet, and both lay side by side unprotestingly.1907, Barbara Baynton, edited by Sally Krimmer and Alan Lawson, Human Toll (Portable Australian Authors: Barbara Baynton), St Lucia: University of Queensland Press, published 1980, page 168

   Synonyms:

   bottlefly, meat fly