fly a kite

1. To suggest something in order to gauge interest in it or others' perception of it. When everyone objected to my idea, I reassured them that I was just flying a kite and had not made any sort of decision on the matter. If management criticizes your suggestion to close the office early on Fridays in the summer, say you were just flying a kite. A: "I'm just flying a kite. Maybe Mom and Dad will agree to giving me a later curfew, you never know." B: "Please, there's no way they'll let you stay out till 11 PM."

2. To ponder a potential reason or explanation for something. Oh, you're just flying a kite—you don't really know why Emily didn't come to the party. Don't listen to Brian, that guy's always flying a kite about how someone has wronged him. Would you stop flying a kite? We need facts now, not more baseless theories.

See also: fly, kite

fly a kite

try something out to test opinion. informal

A historical sense of this phrase was ‘raise money by an accommodation bill’, meaning to raise money on credit, and this sense of testing public opinion of your creditworthiness gave rise to the current figurative sense. The US phrase go fly a kite! means ‘go away!’.

See also: fly, kite

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

fly a ˈkite

(British English, informal) release a bit of information, etc. in order to test public reaction to something that you plan to do at a later date: Let’s fly a kite. Tell the papers that the government is thinking of raising the school leaving age to 18, and we’ll see what the reaction is.

A kite is a kind of toy that you fly in the air at the end of one or more long strings. It will tell you which way the wind is blowing.

See also: fly, kite

(go) fly a/your ˈkite

(American English, informal) used to tell somebody to go away and stop annoying you or interfering

See also: fly, kite

Farlex Partner Idioms Dictionary © Farlex 2017

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References in classic literature

To the birds this was a very poor reason, but the older ones felt grateful to him at this time because he had nursed a number of fledglings through the German measles, and they offered to show him how birds fly a kite. So six of them took the end of the string in their beaks and flew away with it; and to his amazement it flew after them and went even higher than they.

View in context

Families turned out on Saturday, May 5, for Go Fly a Kite, Wheaton Park District's annual event.

Flying high

HELIUM BALLOONS AND KITE THONGS On light wind days when there is not enough wind to fly a kite, you may still be able to kite fish.

Kite gear: accessories to help fly your baits into the danger zone

The expression of freedom, the simple freedom of being able to go to a beach, test the wind and fly a kite attained a particular significance for the people of Gaza this past summer.

Flying Home: Created by the Children of Lajee Center

* Never fly a kite that has any metal in its construction.

Go fly a kite!

"Bahrain is a great place to fly a kite. We flew 45 kites, some were single-line known as show kites and others were dual-lines which were used for tricks, like jumping cars or sand surfing.

Let's go fly a kite, up to the highest height

Juliette Hayden, from Brookvale Avenue, Ernesford Grange, watched six-year-old son Rhys fly a kite on his own for the first time.

... But at least the wind gave kite festival a lift

As part of the Make a Memory, Fly a Kite campaign, kite-flying events will be organised around the country.

Chicks hatch plan

The book then goes on to discuss how to fly a kite and where to fly a kite.

Asian Kites

If there was no wind blowing, what could you do to fly a kite? (Run!)

Kites

As more researchers discover the advantages of using these toys with a high-tech edge, they gladly become members of a select group who smile when their colleagues tell them to go fly a kite.

High-Flying Science, with Strings Attached

Stay away from electrical wires, and don't fly a kite during a thunderstorm.

GO FLY A KITE

Why trek halfway around the globe to fly a kite? Balsley's group was searching for the right weather; they needed a place where the winds blow strong and steady.

Quite the kite

With this is mind I went to the Cardiff Bay Barrage, the venue for Sunday's Fly Fly Fly a Kite day in aid of the Bobath Children's Therapy Centre Wales.

Flying High

In the meantime, go fly a kite! Who knows, maybe your kite will end up on display here someday.

The Smithsonian kite festival