fly by

(redirected from a flyby)

fly by

1. verb To pass someone by flying. Ethel screamed as a bird flew right by her head and startled her.
2. verb To pass or go by swiftly, usually a period of time. I don't know, we just started chatting, and then I looked up and two hours had flown by! With the way senior year is flying by, we'll be graduates before you know it!
3. verb To make a short, surprise visit. Oh, Paulina only flew by for a few hours, that's why you didn't see her.
4. noun A flight that travels very close to an intended target, often in outer space. When used as a noun, the phrase is usually written as one word. We'll do a flyby to collect more information on that planet.
See also: by, fly

fly by

 
1. Lit. to soar past, flying. Three jet fighters flew by. A huge hawk flew by, frightening all the smaller birds.
2. Fig. [for time] to go quickly. The hours just flew by, because we were having fun. Time flew by so fast that it was dark before we knew it.
See also: by, fly

fly by

v.
1. To pass quickly, as of a moving object or an interval of time: The summer months flew by, leaving us only a few days warm enough for swimming.
2. To visit briefly, often unexpectedly: Some of my old school friends flew by for a short visit last week.
3. To move past in flight: Several geese flew by as we climbed the hill.
See also: by, fly
References in periodicals archive ?
1, at the Chishingtan Scenic Area park, where the public will be able to celebrate the New Year with a flyby by the Air Force, indigenous folk music, a tai chi performance, and more.
New Year's Day celebrations in eastern Taiwan to go ahead without helicopter show
Only one DSM is permitted between a flyby and the other.
Preliminary Capture Trajectory Design for Europa Tomography Probe
Two days later it will conduct a flyby of the moon Titan which will help slow the craft a bit.
Cassini Will Burn Up After 20 Years Of Exploration, Here's Its Schedule
Astronomers have announced two appealing celestial events for December 24 that would even please the Grinch: a flyby of a massive asteroid near the Earth, and a Christmas Eve full moon, the last full moon for 2015.
Giant asteroid to pass by Earth on Christmas Eve
a flyby within 520 kilometers of Saturn's moon Dione - its fourth
Saturn spacecraft to pass by icy moon Dione
"There is always some gravity boost at a flyby and in some cases, like this one, it is the main reason for a flyby.
Deep Impact Spacecraft to fly past Earth for the last time
and a flyby of the little asteroid 2867 Steins in 2008.
Rosetta's last visit to earth
The three pilots reached the summit in time to take a flyby photograph, bottom, just as the other aircraft completed their training.
VFA-97 fly to Iwo Jima
From the observed Doppler shift data acquired during a flyby, and then best fitting the trajectory, the asymptotic hyperbolic speeds [V.sub.i[infinity]], and [V.sub.f[infinity]], are inferred, but incorrectly so, as in [1].
Resolving spacecraft earth-flyby anomalies with measured light speed anisotropy
The amount of plutonium NASA admits could be dispersed in a flyby accident "represents an astronomical quantity of a potent alpha-emitting cancer producer," says John Gofman, professor emeritus of medical physics at the University of California at Berkeley and former associate director of the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.
NASA's nuclear gamble
The spacecraft is scheduled to make a flyby of it on New Year's Day 2019, traveling at the speed of 35,000 miles an hour, making it the farthest object yet encountered by a spacecraft.
Can You See A Kuiper Belt Object From Earth?
[P.sub.x] is the next planet around which a flyby will occur.
Optimal Trajectory Determination and Mission Design for Asteroid/Deep-Space Exploration via Multibody Gravity Assist Maneuvers
Its name short for "Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry, and Ranging," Messenger was launched in August 2004 and made a flyby of Earth a year later that dropped its perihelion inside the orbit of Venus.
Messenger
Marine Attack Training Squadron 203 retired the original AV-8B day attack Harrier in a flyby ceremony on 30 September 2004 at MCAS Cherry Point, N.C.
For the record
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