flyman

English

Etymology

From fly +‎ -man.

Noun

flyman (plural flymen)

1. (UK, historical) Someone who drives the type of coach called a fly.
   • 1891, Francis Burnand, Punch, Volume 101, September 19, 1891‎:

     When driving round and about Cromer, our flyman pointed out "Poppy Land" to me.

   • 1898, George William Erskine Russell, Collections and Recollections‎:

     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?

   • 1903, Lucy H. M. Soulsby, Stray Thoughts for Girls‎:

     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.

   • 1913, Charles Garvice, The Woman's Way‎:

     Derrick gave his small portmanteau to the flyman and told him to drive there, and he himself set out walking.

   • 1920, Thomas Hardy, A Group of Noble Dames‎:

     The flyman touched his hat, turned the horse, and drove back as directed.

   • 1942 January, “Horsepower”, in Railway Magazine, page 5:

     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.

2. (theater) Someone who operates a fly system in a theatre.

See also

• Wikipedia: A fly (the carriage)
• Wikipedia: The fly system of a theatre

Old English

Verb

flȳman

1. alternative form of flīeman