Word.ws English Dictionary

let fly

let fly verb: to strike or release a projectile with great force.

Verb

let fly (third-person singular simple present lets fly, present participle letting fly, simple past and past participle let fly)

  1. (idiomatic, intransitive) To strike or release a projectile with great force.
    • One evening when it was barely even dusk a sentry let fly at me from a distance of twenty yards; but he missed me by a yard—goodness knows how many times the Spanish standard of marksmanship has saved my life.1938 April, George Orwell [pseudonym; Eric Arthur Blair], chapter III, in Homage to Catalonia, London: Secker & Warburg, →OCLC
    • Norwich were back on level terms through an equally stunning finish by Morison in the 53rd minute, the former Millwall player letting fly from the edge of the area after being teed-up by Leon Barnett.2011 October 29, Neil Johnston, “Norwich 3 - 3 Blackburn”, in BBC Sport
  2. (figuratively) To unleash an angry outburst.
    • She was furious and let fly at him with a string of obscenities.
    • Rosemary peeled off Sloane Square, Hartnell, decorations-will-be-worn, fog primroses, crumpets by the fire, and let fly vulgarly at Vythilingam.1959, Anthony Burgess, Beds in the East (The Malayan Trilogy), published 1972, page 498

let fly meaning in Tamil, Malayalam and Sanskrit

let fly in Tamil

உமையாள்

let fly in Malayalam

let, give permission to, allow
ആക്രമിക്കുക, അനുവദിക്കുക, അനുമതിനൽകുക, അനുവാദം നൽകുക, അനുവാദം കൊടുക്കുക, അധികാരപ്പെടുത്തുക

let fly in Sanskrit

to let fly or cause to fall, to fling, hurl, throw
पतति pátati

Examples of let fly in a sentence

  • This time there was an English element as Ainsley Maitland-Niles let fly with cross-shot that fizzed to Nicolas Tagliafico at the far post.2025 April 17, Simon Stone, “Manchester United 5-4 Olympique Lyonnais”, in BBC Sport:
  • Work together hand in hand." — helmeted tac squad on horses, Hondas, facing us on Powell Street, itching to wield their billy clubs, waiting for any excuse to let fly.1984 August 11, Merle Woo, “Revolutionary Optimism—The Order of the Day”, in Gay Community News, volume 12, number 5, page 5:

Forms of let fly

third-person singular presentlets fly
present participleletting fly
past participlelet fly
pastlet fly

Questions about let fly

What does let fly mean?
Let fly means to strike or release a projectile with great force.
What is let fly in Tamil?
Let fly in Tamil is உமையாள். See Let fly meaning in Tamil.
How do you use let fly in a sentence?
This time there was an English element as Ainsley Maitland-Niles let fly with cross-shot that fizzed to Nicolas Tagliafico at the far post.
What part of speech is let fly?
Let fly is a verb.
What is the past tense of let fly?
The past tense of let fly is let fly.

Words near let fly in the dictionary

  1. let bygones be bygones
  2. let crazy stick its dick in you
  3. let down
  4. let drive
  5. let fluffy off the chain
  6. let fly
  7. let George do it
  8. let go
  9. let go and let God
  10. let go by the run
  11. let he who is without sin cast the first stone

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: let fly (page history and authors); let fly (Tamil Wiktionary) (page history and authors); let fly (Olam, E.K. Kurup corpus) (dataset and license); पतति (Sanskrit) (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-au-let fly.ogg.

Cite this entry: “let fly.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/let_fly. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.