i Register
In some senses, fly-by-night is marked as derogatory, idiomatic. Watch for register when choosing this word.
fly-by-night
noun 4
Collocations
2VERB + FLY-BY-NIGHT
running
FLY-BY-NIGHT + NOUN
conc, operation
Definitions
noun
1
A creature which flies at night; a nocturnal flier or traveler.
2
One who departs or flees at night in order to avoid creditors, law enforcement etc.
Do not give your credit card number to that fly-by-night operation.
3
A person or business that appears and/or disappears rapidly, appearing untrustworthy, or giving an impression of transience.
The automobile industry rose almost overnight. Orders poured into the offices of companies already organized; new companies were formed by dozens, capitalized at millions of dollars. Fly-by-night concerns sprang up like mushrooms, flooded the country with stock-selling schemes, established factories where parts of motor cars, bought elsewhere, were assembled.
True, it was a good advertisement at Boosters' Club lunches, and all the varieties of Annual Banquets to which Good Fellows were invited, to speak sonorously of […] a thing called Ethics, whose nature was confusing but if you had it you were a High-class Realtor and if you hadn't you were a shyster, a piker, and a fly-by-night.
4
A traveling businessman or tradesman.
Thesaurus
Synonyms
Antonyms
Idioms & Phrases
Example Bank
401
Do not give your credit card number to that fly-by-night operation.
Wiktionary02
The automobile industry rose almost overnight. Orders poured into the offices of companies already organized; new companies were formed by dozens, capitalized at millions of dollars. Fly-by-night conc
Wiktionary03
True, it was a good advertisement at Boosters' Club lunches, and all the varieties of Annual Banquets to which Good Fellows were invited, to speak sonorously of […] a thing called Ethics, whose nature
Wiktionary04
That outfit is running a fly-by-night operation.
Tatoeba · #68505Usage Notes
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