dorfly means A biting insect, such as a horse-fly or gad-fly, that attacks livestock.
Among words judged in Lexicurio's Arena, dorfly ranks #16,749 of 42,762 for Qualifying.
Etymology
Either from dor (referring to a large, buzzing insect) + fly or a variant of drone fly (horse-fly).
noun
- A biting insect, such as a horse-fly or gad-fly, that attacks livestock.e.g.“This forest was most horribly fertile and copious in dorflies, hornets, and wasps, so that it was a purgatory for the poor mares, asses, and horses.” — 1849, Henry George Bohn, Bohn's Extra Volume: Volume 6, page 152:
Definitions & examples from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 3.0).
Words closest in meaning
By meaning, not spelling — each word's AI semantic fingerprint, nearest first.
- dogfly 74% match — A bloodsucking fly, Stomoxys calcitrans; stablefly. vs dorfly →
- deerfly 69% match — Any of various species of fly which feed on deer, principally in genus Chrysops. vs dorfly →
- gadfly 66% match — Any dipterous (“two-winged”) insect or fly of the family Oestridae (commonly known as a botfly) or Tabanidae (horsefly), noted for irritating animals by buzzing about them, and biting them to suck their blood; a gadbee. vs dorfly →
- dor 65% match — Any of species Geotrupes stercorarius of large European dung beetles that make a droning noise while flying. vs dorfly →
- horsefly 64% match — Any of several medium to large flies, of the family Tabanidae, that suck the blood of mammals (not to be confused with Stomoxys calcitrans, the stable fly, or dog fly). vs dorfly →
- breezefly 63% match — The horsefly or gadfly. vs dorfly →
- cleg 63% match — a blood-sucking fly of the family Tabanidae: gadfly, horsefly, deer fly, blind-fly, tabanid vs dorfly →
- botfly 63% match — One of several dipterous insects of the family Oestridae, the larvae of which are parasites on many animals, including humans. vs dorfly →