on the fly

on the fly

See also: on-the-fly

English

Alternative forms

• on-the-fly

Pronunciation

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Adverb

on the fly (not comparable)

1. (baseball, of the ball) While in the air, without having touched the ground.

   Jones caught the ball on the fly.

2. (idiomatic) Spontaneously or extemporaneously; done as one goes, or during another activity.

   The software program has a table of values for some results, but calculates others on the fly.

Synonyms

• (spontaneously): on the spot, on the hoof (Britain)

Derived terms

• OTFE, on-the-fly encryption

Translations

while in the air

Catalan: al vol Finnish: lennosta French: à la volée (fr) Portuguese: sem sobressaltos Russian: на лету́ (ru) (na letú) Spanish: al vuelo (es) Swedish: i flykten, på lyra Turkish: uçarken

spontaneously or extemporaneously

Finnish: lennosta French: à la volée (fr), sur le fly (fr) German: in Eile (de), spontan (de), unvorbereitet (de), ohne Vorbereitung, fliegend (de), auf die Schnelle (de), improvisiert (de) Polish: w locie Russian: на лету́ (ru) (na letú) Spanish: al vuelo (es), a vuelapluma, sobre la marcha Swedish: i flykten Turkish: anında (tr), hazırlıksız (tr)