u. f., gen. pl. flugna, a fly, gnat, moth, Stj. 23, 91, Pr. 474, Edda 70, Ver. 20; gesta-fluga, a moth; mý-f., a gnat; bý-f., a bee; randa-f., a wasp; hunangs-f., a honey-fly, a kind of Icel. bee; mel-f., a clothes-moth; þev-f., a kind of tipula: myki-f., a dung-fly: maðka-f., a maggot-fly, all three musca, etc., vide Eggert Itin. ch. 688: the phrase, eins og fluga, swift as a fly. Wizards were said to bewitch flies and send them to kill their enemies (vide galdra-fluga, gand-fluga), hence the phrase, gína við flugu, or taka flugu, to swallow the fly or to carry the fly, i. e. to be the tool of another man, esp. in a wicked and fatal business, Eb. 164; ef Hallgerðr kemr annarri flugu í munn þér, if H. puts another fly in thy mouth, i. e. makes thee to carry another lie, Nj. 64; þeir gina við þessi flugu, Al. 9; era mínligt flugu at gína, ‘tis not ‘mine-like’ to open the mouth for flies, i. e. lies and slander, Kristni S. (in a verse of the year 998); hann fær komit þeirri flugu í munn eins skiptings, Fms. xi. 445.

COMPDS: flugumaðr, flugumannligr.