Meaning & use
horsefly
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
a large flying insect that bites horses and other animals to drink their blood.
Grammar: Countable: one horsefly, two horseflies. The plural is horseflies.
Patterns
- a horsefly bite
- be bitten by a horsefly
A horsefly bit me on the arm and it really hurt.
Horseflies are common near water in the summer.
The horse was annoyed by horseflies and kept moving.
Word forms
| plural | horseflies |
|---|
Common combinations
- horsefly bite
- The horsefly bite left a red mark on her leg.
- be bitten by a horsefly
- He was bitten by a horsefly while fishing.
- a swarm of horseflies
- A swarm of horseflies followed the cattle.
Synonyms and how they differ
- gadfly
- A more literary or technical word for a similar biting fly.
- cleg
- A Scottish and northern English word for a horsefly.
Word family
Commonly confused: horsefly or housefly? horsefly or butterfly?
horsefly vs housefly
A housefly is a small fly found in homes; it does not bite. A horsefly is bigger and bites.
horsefly vs butterfly
A butterfly is colorful and harmless; a horsefly is dull-colored and bites.
Practice
What is a horsefly?
Choose one answer.
A horsefly is a large insect that bites animals to drink blood. Option 0 describes a housefly, and options 2 and 3 are not real animals.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “horsefly”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.