flight

Most birds are capable of flight.

The migrating birds' flight took them to Africa.

a flight of swallows

(collective) A collective term for doves or swallows.

The flight to Paris leaves at 7 o'clock tonight.

Where is the departure gate for flight 747? / Go straight down and to the right.

A trip made by an aircraft, particularly one between two cities or countries, which is often planned or reserved in advance.

She crept up the stairs [...] On she went, across the landing, from which sprang the tall window, and up the next flight until she reached the top.

1967, Barbara Sleigh, Jessamy, Sevenoaks, Kent: Bloomsbury, published 1993, →ISBN, page 84:

A group of canal locks with a short distance between them

How many flights is it up?

A floor which is reached by stairs or escalators.

Baſſ. In my ſchoole dayes, when I had loſt one ſhaft / I ſhot his fellow of the ſelfeſame flight / The ſelfeſame way, with more aduiſed watch / To finde the other forth, and by aduenturing both, / I oft found both. I vrge this child-hoode proofe, […]

c. 1596–1598 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene i], page 164:

The feathers on an arrow or dart used to help it follow an even path.

(cricket) The movement of a spinning ball through the air, with its speed, trajectory and drift.

The ballistic trajectory of an arrow or other projectile.

An aerodynamic surface designed to guide such a projectile's trajectory.

(US, naval) A numbered subclass of a given class of warship, denoting incremental modernizations to the original design.

Several sample glasses of a specific wine varietal or other beverage. The pours are smaller than a full glass and the flight will generally include three to five different samples.

(by extension) A comparable sample of beers or other drinks.

(engineering) The shaped material forming the thread of a screw.

a flight of fancy; a flight of the imagination

An episode of imaginative thinking or dreaming.

After the first eight-week flight of advertising, the tracking research showed that consumers' predisposition to use Citi as a financial services provider jumped 50 percent.

2006, Pat Fallon, Fred Senn, Juicing the Orange, page 34:

(advertising, broadcasting) An advertising campaign of fixed length.

en-noun

flight (countable and uncountable, plural flights)

lento

cricket: movement of a spinning ball through the air

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *plew-
Proto-Indo-European *plewk-der.
Proto-Germanic *fleuganą
Proto-West Germanic *fleugan
Proto-West Germanic *-þi
Proto-West Germanic *fluhti
Old English flyht
Middle English flight
English flight
From Middle English flight, from Old English flyht (“flight”), from Proto-West Germanic *fluhti (“flight”), derived from *fleuganą (“to fly”), from Proto-Indo-European *plewk- (“to fly”), enlargement of *plew- (“flow”). Analyzable as fly + -t (variant of -th).
Cognate with West Frisian flecht (“flight”), Dutch vlucht (“flight”), German Flucht (“flight”) (etymology 2).


flight

en-adj

flight (comparative more flight, superlative most flight)

more flight (comparative)
most flight (superlative)


flight

(cricket, of a spin bowler) To throw the ball in such a way that it has more airtime and more spin than usual.

Riyad Mahrez flighted the free-kick that followed to the far post and Morgan, with not much finesse but plenty of desire, bundled the ball over the line. Cue pandemonium in the stands.

2017 March 14, Stuart James, “Leicester stun Sevilla to reach last eight after Kasper Schmeichel save”, in the Guardian:

(sports, by extension, transitive) To throw or kick something so as to send it flying with more loft or airtime than usual.

en-verb

flight (third-person singular simple present flights, present participle flighting, simple past and past participle flighted)

flights (present singular third-person)
flighting (participle present)
flighted (participle past)
flighted (past)


flight

take flight

the flight of a refugee

Awake! for Morning in the Bowl of Night,
Has flung the Stone that puts the Stars to Flight:
And Lo! the Hunter of the East has caught
The Sultán's Turret in a Noose of light.

1859, Edward Fitzgerald, The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám: The Astronomer-Poet of Persia, page 1:

But the sight of her eyes was not a thing to forget. John Dodds said they were the een of a deer with the Devil ahint them; and indeed, they would so appal an onlooker that a sudden unreasoning terror came into his heart, while his feet would impel him to flight.

1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide:

From Middle English, from Old English flyht, from Proto-West Germanic *fluhti, derived from *fleuhaną (“to flee”). Analyzable as flee + -t (variant of -th). Cognate with Dutch vlucht, German Flucht (etymology 1).


flight

English: flight

Scots: flycht, flicht

Etymology tree
Proto-Indo-European *plew-
Proto-Indo-European *plewk-der.
Proto-Germanic *fleuganą
Proto-West Germanic *fleugan
Proto-West Germanic *-þi
Proto-West Germanic *fluhti
Old English flyht
Middle English flight
Inherited from Old English flyht.


flight

a flight ((regular) trip made by a passenger aircraft)

flight (indefinite nominative singular)
flights (genitive indefinite singular)
flighten (definite nominative singular)
flightens (definite genitive singular)
flighter (indefinite nominative plural)
flighters (genitive indefinite plural)
flighterna (definite nominative plural)
flighternas (definite genitive plural)

Borrowed from English flight. Attested since 1967.