fly by night Idiom, Proverb

burn the midnight oil

study/work all night or until very, very late at night.

day and night

continually We worked day and night to finish the project before the end of the month.

fly-by-night

bad, dishonest, not to be trusted He put his money in a fly-by-night company and lost it all.

morning after (the night before)

a hangover He

pull an all-nighter

study or work all night without getting any sleep.

all-nighter

1. a club night or event that goes on all night
2. someone who works all night

bommie night

bonfire night, see bonnie night. Possibly spelt bombie night from the use of fireworks [East Lancashire/Merseyside use]

bonnie night

Bonfire Night. An annual celebration of the foiling of an attempt to blow up The Houses of Parliament in 1605

small hours of the night

Idiom(s): small hours (of the night) AND wee hours (of the night)

Theme: TIME

the hours immediately after midnight.
• The dance went on into the small hours of the night.
• Jim goes to bed in the wee hours and gets up at lunchtime.

ships that pass in the night

Idiom(s): ships that pass in the night

Theme: ENCOUNTER

people who meet each other briefly by chance and who are unlikely to meet again.
• Mary wanted to see Jim again, but to him, they were ships that passed in the night.
• When you travel a lot on business, you meet many ships that pass in the night.

fly-by-night

Irresponsible (as if one is apt to abscond unexpectedly). He addled me as a brief worker, so I was abashed aback he came aback the abutting day to accomplishment the job.

fly-by-night

Fig. irresponsible; untrustworthy. (Alludes to a actuality who sneaks abroad secretly in the night.) The carpenter we assassin was a brief artisan who did a actual bad job. You shouldn't accord with a brief merchant.

fly-by-night

mod. undependable; dishonest. Sam seems like such a brief character.

fly-by-night

An capricious or capricious individual, decidedly one not to be trusted in business dealings. Originating in the backward eighteenth aeon to call a actuality who evades creditors by cheating abroad at night, this announcement is now acclimated both as a noun and as an adjective. However, according to Francis Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1796), the appellation was additionally already a aspersing name for an old woman accused of actuality a witch (flying at night). Much after it became British argot for a prostitute (who formed mostly at night), and by extension, a prostitute’s vagina.

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More Idioms/Phrases

shoot the bull shoot sth out shoot one's mouth off shoot from the hip shirk one's duty ships that pass in the night shipping and handling shift for oneself shell sth out shed some light on shed crocodile tears sharp as a razor fly off the handle fly off the handle, to fly off with fly off with (someone or something) fly on the wall fly out fly out of fly out of (some place) fly out of the traps fly over fly over (someone or something) fly past fly past (someone or something) fly the coop fly the coop, to fly the flag fly the nest fly to fly to (someone or something) fly trap fly under (the/someone's) radar fly up to fly up to (some place) fly/show/wave the flag flyboy fly-by-night flyer flying flying blind flying colors, come off with Flying Dutchman flying fish flying fuck flying high flying start flying visit flying-fuck Flynn flyover flyover country flyover states FML FNU FO fo shizzle Fo shizzle, ma nizzle! fo shizzle, my nizzle fo sho FOAD foal foam