Dictionary

flyman en · NOUN

Etymology

From fly + -man.

Meanings

1. (UK, historical) Someone who drives the type of coach called a fly.
   • When driving round and about Cromer, our flyman pointed out "Poppy Land" to me. 1891, Francis Burnand, Punch, Volume 101, September 19, 1891:
   • A contemporary picture in The Illustrated London News shows a steam train, and Bradshaw's times are incompatible with horse-traction, but "Medicus" stated in The Times that on February 9 the 12.45 up train was worked to the junction by "an old grey horse, in charge of Evans, the Moulsey flyman," that the trip took 20 min., and that this sort of thing was of daily occurrence. 1942 January, “Horsepower”, in Railway Magazine, page 5:
   • Derrick gave his small portmanteau to the flyman and told him to drive there, and he himself set out walking. 1913, Charles Garvice, The Woman's Way:
   • She is as considerate for the flyman waiting for her on a rainy night as she would be for her father's coachman and horses, remembering that the flyman is quite as liable to catch cold as the coachman, and has fewer facilities for curing himself. 1903, Lucy H. M. Soulsby, Stray Thoughts for Girls:
   • Who does not know the "Copper Horse" at Windsor--that equestrian statue at the end of the Long Walk to which (and back again) the local flyman always offers to drive the tourist? 1898, George William Erskine Russell, Collections and Recollections:
   • The flyman touched his hat, turned the horse, and drove back as directed. 1920, Thomas Hardy, A Group of Noble Dames:
2. Someone who operates a fly system in a theatre.

Forms

Relateds

A fly (Wikipedia) · The fly system of a theatre (Wikipedia)