To make the fur (or feathers) fly, verb. phr. (common).—To attack effectively; to make a disturbance; to quarrel noisily like two tom cats on the tiles, who are said (in American) to pull fur, or to pull wool.
1847. Porter, Big Bear, etc., p. 132. Thar, they've got him agin, and now the fur flies.
1888. Denver Republican, 29 Feb. 'Wait until the National Committee assembles on February 22,' said the organizer, 'and you will see the fur fly from the Cleveland hide.'
To take on the fly, verb. phr. (vagrants').—To beg in the streets; a specific usage of adverbial sense.
1851-61. Mayhew, Lond. Lab. and Lond. Poor, II., p. 59. The 'first move' in his mendicant career was taking them on the fly, which means meeting the gentry on their walks, and beseeching or at times menacing them till something is given.
To fly a kite, verb phr. (common).—To raise money by means of accommodation bills; to raise the wind (q.v.).
1812. From an old Dublin Jester. [The story, however, with slight variations, is told of other judges. See N. and Q., 6 S. ix., 326-394.] In a case before the Lord Chancellor of Ireland Mr. Curran, on behalf of the suitor, prayed to be relieved from the payment of some bills for which he had not received consideration, but only lent his name as an accommodation. Mr. Curran, in the course of his pleadings, mentioned the terms kite and raising the wind several times, when his lordship requested to know the meaning of the words. 'My lord,' Mr. Curran replied, 'in your country (meaning England) the wind generally raises the kite, but with us, significantly looking at the gentlemen of the bar, the kite raises the wind.'
1848. Punch, XIV., p. 226. 'The Model Gentleman.' He never does 'a little discounting' nor lends his hand to 'flying a kite.'
1849. Perils of Pearl Street, p. 82. Flying the kite is rather a perilous adventure.
1880. G. R. Sims, Ballads of Babylon (Little Worries). You have a kite you cannot fly, and creditors are pressing.
1891. Licensed Victuallers' Gazette, 23 Jan. Prince Alexis Soltykoff, who has been flying kites, and getting into trouble thereby, is the only son of Prince Soltykoff, the steward of the Jockey Club.
2. (thieves')—To go out by the window.
3. (lodging-house).—To evacuate from a window.
4. (colloquial).—To attempt; to set one's cap at.
1863. H. Kingsley, Austin Elliot, ch. xii. 'They say that you flew your kite at that girl of George Cecil's who has married that prig, Lord Mewstone.'
To fly the blue pigeon, verb. phr. (thieves').—To steal lead from roofs. See Blue-pigeon. Fr., faire la mastar au gras-double, or la faire au mastar.
1785. Grose, Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue, s.v.
1789. G. Parker, Life's Painter, Thieves who fly the blue pigeon, that is, who steal lead off houses, or cut pipes away . . . cut a hundredweight of lead, which they wrap round their bodies next to the skin. This they call a bible (q.v.), and what they steal and put in their pockets, they call a testament (q.v.).
1887. Judy, 27 April, p. 200. A burglar whose particular lay was flying the blue pigeon, i.e., stealing lead.
To let fly, verb. phr. (colloquial).—To hit out. [From cock-fighting.]
1859. Punch, vol. XXXVII., p. 54. 'Essence of Parliament.' Monday, 25 July. Lord Lyndhurst let fly and caught him what (if pugilistic terms be not out of place when one is alluding to so pacific a personage) may be designated an extremely neat one on the conk.
Not a feather to fly with, adv. phr. (common).—Penniless and ruined; dead-broke (q.v. for synonyms).
