Dictionary

gadfly en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Australia) audio
• /ˈɡædˌflaɪ/ (General-American)
• /ˈɡædflaɪ/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From gad (“sharp point, spike; (dialectal) sharp-pointed rod for driving cattle, horses, etc., goad”) + fly, in the sense of a fly which irritates cattle, etc., by biting them, similar to the prodding of a goad. Gad is derived from Middle English gad, gadde (“metal spike with a sharp point; stick with a sharp point for driving animals, goad; metal bar or rod, ingot; (by extension) lump of material; metal rod for measuring land; (by extension) unit of linear measure equal to about 10 to 16 feet”), borrowed from Old Norse gaddr (“spike; goad”), from Proto-Germanic *gazdaz (“spike; goad”), further etymology uncertain. Displaced native Old English bēaw. Sense 2.1.1 (“person who upsets the status quo”) may allude to the Apology by the Greek philosopher Plato (428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347 B.C.E.), where he describes Socrates (c. 470 – 399 B.C.E.) acting as a goad to the Athenian political scene like a gadfly (Ancient Greek μῠ́ωψ (mŭ́ōps)) arousing a sluggish horse.

Meanings

1. Any dipterous (“two-winged”) insect or fly of the family Oestridae (commonly known as a bot fly) or Tabanidae (horse fly), noted for irritating animals by buzzing about them, and biting them to suck their blood; a gadbee.
   • Light fly his ſlumbers, if perchance a flight / Of angry gad-flies faſten on the herd; […] a. 1749 (date written), James Thomson, “Summer”, in The Seasons, London: […] A[ndrew] Millar, and sold by Thomas Cadell, […], published 1768, →OCLC, page 65, lines 498–499:
   • Vengeful Hera transformed her [Io] into an animal (a beautiful cow), and imposed upon her the company of a gadfly to sting her continuously, thus forcing her to escape on an endless pilgrimage. 2005, Rafael Argullol, “Introduction”, in Yolanda Gamboa, transl., The End of the World as a Work of Art: A Western Story, Lewisburg, Pa.: Bucknell University Press; Cranbury, N.J.: Associated University Presses, →ISBN, page 48:
   • He that made that ryme in jeſt, little conſidered what a gad-fly may doe in earneſt. It is ſmall wiſedome to contemne the ſmalleſt enemy; the gad-fly is a little creature, but ſome little creatures be ſtingers; […] 1593, Gabriell Haruey [i.e., Gabriel Harvey], Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. A Preparative to Certaine Larger Discourses, Intituled Nashes S. Fame, London: […] Iohn Wolfe, →OCLC; republished as John Payne Collier, editor, Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. […] (Miscellaneous Tracts. Temp. Eliz. & Jac. I; no. 8), [London]: [s.n.], [1870], →OCLC, page 147:
   • The nomads of Africa are constrained to wander by the attacks of the gadfly, which drives the cattle mad, and so compels the tribe to emigrate in the rainy season and drive off the cattle to the higher sandy regions. 1841, R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson, “Essay I. History.”, in Essays, Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company, →OCLC, pages 18–19:
2. (also, attributive, figuratively) A person or thing that irritates or instigates.
   • VVhat gad flye tickles ſo this Macrinus, / That vp-flinging thy tayle, he breakes thus from me. 1620 (first performance; published 1622), Philip Messenger [i.e., Philip Massinger]; Thomas Dekker, The Virgin Martir, a Tragedie. […], London: […] Bernard Alsop for Thomas Iones, →OCLC, Act II, signature [D4], recto:
3. (also, attributive, figuratively, specifically) A person or thing that irritates or instigates. ▸ A person who upsets the status quo by posing novel or upsetting questions, or attempts to stimulate innovation by being an irritant.
   • There is a function for the gadfly who poses questions that many specialists would like to overlook. Polemics is healthy. 1977, Morris Kline, Why the Professor Can’t Teach: Mathematics and the Dilemma of University Education, New York, N.Y.: St. Martin’s Press, →ISBN, page 238:
   • Dr. [Carl] Hart, 54, the first tenured African-American science professor at Columbia, is a gadfly among drug researchers and a rock star among advocates for decriminalizing drugs. 2021 April 10, John Leland, “This heroin-using professor wants to change how we think about drugs”, in The New York Times, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 28 May 2022:
   • What was required now was the intervention of some men who were not gadflies. […] The logic of [Charles] Pearson's arguments was accepted, up to a point, by a consortium of businessmen. In August 1854, […] the consortium obtained royal assent for […] the Metropolitan Railway. […] In 1859, when it looked as though the Metropolitan Railway Company would be wound up with no line built, he [Pearson] wrote a pamphlet: A Twenty Minutes Letter to the Citizens of London in Favour of the Metropolitan Railway and City Station. Gadfly he may have been, but by this 'letter' he persuaded the Corporation of London to invest £200,000 in the line, a most unusual example of a public body investing in a Victorian railway. 2012, Andrew Martin, “The World of Charles Pearson”, in Underground Overground: A Passenger’s History of the Tube, London: Profile Books, →ISBN, pages 26–27:
4. (also, attributive, figuratively) Synonym of gadabout (“a person who restlessly moves from place to place, seeking amusement or the companionship of others”).
   • [Y]our Harriet may turn gadfly, and never be eaſy but vvhen ſhe is forming parties, or giving vvay to them, that may make the home, that hitherto has been the chief ſcene of her pleaſures, undelightful to her. 1753 (indicated as 1754), [Samuel Richardson], “Letter XVIII. Miss Byron. In Continuation.”, in The History of Sir Charles Grandison. […], volume I, London: […] S[amuel] Richardson; [a]nd sold by C. Hitch and L. Hawes, […], →OCLC, page 125:
   • VVhat VVinnie? VVife, I ſay? out of dores at this time! vvhere ſhould I ſeeke the Gad-flye? 1605 August (first performance), Geo[rge] Chapman, Ben Ionson, Ioh[n] Marston, Eastward Hoe. […], London: […] [George Eld] for William Aspley, published September 1605, →OCLC, Act III, scene ii:
   • VVhere are thoſe gad-flies going? to ſome Junket novv; […] c. 1613, Thomas Middleton, William Rowley, “Wit at Several Weapons. A Comedy.”, in Comedies and Tragedies […], London: […] Humphrey Robinson, […], and for Humphrey Moseley […], published 1647, →OCLC, Act IV, scene i, page 85, column 2:
5. (also, attributive, derogatory, figuratively, slang) A person who takes without giving back; a bloodsucker.
   • He’s a regular gadfly and takes advantage of his friend’s generosity.

Forms

Deriveds

gadfly petrel

Synonyms

individualist · nonconformist · sucker · social butterfly · trencher mate · freeloader · maverick · heteroclite · scunge · deviant · smell-feast · offbeat · free rider · parasite · gadabout · scrounger · stout · bludger · sponge · misfit · deviate · stoat-fly · gadfly · sponger · bummer · moocher · eccentric · leech · scrounge · warble fly · free spirit · mooch · bloodsucker

Translations (15)

es moscón (person or thing that irritates or instigates) · fa خرمگس جمع (person who upsets the status quo by posing novel or upsetting questions, or attempts to stimulate innovation by being an irritant) · de Störenfried (person who upsets the status quo by posing novel or upsetting questions, or attempts to stimulate innovation by being an irritant) · fi häirikkö (person who upsets the status quo by posing novel or upsetting questions, or attempts to stimulate innovation by being an irritant) · de Querulant (person who upsets the status quo by posing novel or upsetting questions, or attempts to stimulate innovation by being an irritant) · da urostifter (person who upsets the status quo by posing novel or upsetting questions, or attempts to stimulate innovation by being an irritant) · de Quälgeist (person or thing that irritates or instigates) · de Störenfried (person or thing that irritates or instigates) · de Querulant (person or thing that irritates or instigates) · da provokatør (person who upsets the status quo by posing novel or upsetting questions, or attempts to stimulate innovation by being an irritant) · fi piikittelijä (person or thing that irritates or instigates) · de Quälgeist (person who upsets the status quo by posing novel or upsetting questions, or attempts to stimulate innovation by being an irritant) · fr empêcheur de tourner en rond (person who upsets the status quo by posing novel or upsetting questions, or attempts to stimulate innovation by being an irritant) · fr casse-pieds (person or thing that irritates or instigates) · tr baş belası (person or thing that irritates or instigates)

wikipedia: Socrates · wikipedia: Harold North Fowler · wikipedia: Plato · wikipedia: Loeb Classical Library · wikipedia: Harvard University Press