WordofTheDay.US

flight

/ˈflaɪ̯t/ noun

In Latin: volatus Wiktionary

noun Definition from WordNet 3.1, Princeton University. Pronunciation from Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org. More about flight at Wordnik → Where our words come from →

  1. A formation of aircraft in flight.
  2. An instance of traveling by air.
    flying was still an exciting adventure for him
  3. A stairway (set of steps) between one floor or landing and the next.

verb

  1. Shoot a bird in flight.
  2. Fly in a flock.
    flighting wild geese
  3. Decorate with feathers.
    fledge an arrow

Origin

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).

From Wiktionary, via Kaikki.org (CC BY-SA)