Flying colors

Flying Fly"ing, a. [From {Fly}, v. i.] Moving in the air with, or as with, wings; moving lightly or rapidly; intended for rapid movement. [1913 Webster]

{Flying army} (Mil.) a body of cavalry and infantry, kept in motion, to cover its own garrisons and to keep the enemy in continual alarm. --Farrow.

{Flying artillery} (Mil.), artillery trained to rapid evolutions, -- the men being either mounted or trained to spring upon the guns and caissons when they change position.

{Flying bridge}, {Flying camp}. See under {Bridge}, and {Camp}.

{Flying buttress} (Arch.), a contrivance for taking up the thrust of a roof or vault which can not be supported by ordinary buttresses. It consists of a straight bar of masonry, usually sloping, carried on an arch, and a solid pier or buttress sufficient to receive the thrust. The word is generally applied only to the straight bar with supporting arch.

{Flying colors}, flags unfurled and waving in the air; hence:

{To come off with flying colors}, to be victorious; to succeed thoroughly in an undertaking.

{Flying doe} (Zo["o]l.), a young female kangaroo.

{Flying dragon}. (a) (Zo["o]l.) See {Dragon}, 6. (b) A meteor. See under {Dragon}.

{Flying Dutchman}. (a) A fabled Dutch mariner condemned for his crimes to sail the seas till the day of judgment. (b) A spectral ship.

{Flying fish}. (Zo["o]l.) See {Flying fish}, in the Vocabulary.

{Flying fox} (Zo["o]l.), see {Flying fox} in the vocabulary.

{Flying frog} (Zo["o]l.), either of two East Indian tree frogs of the genus {Rhacophorus} ({Rhacophorus nigrapalmatus} and {Rhacophorus pardalis}), having very large and broadly webbed feet, which serve as parachutes, and enable it to make very long leaps.

{Flying gurnard} (Zo["o]l.), a species of gurnard of the genus {Cephalacanthus} or {Dactylopterus}, with very large pectoral fins, said to be able to fly like the flying fish, but not for so great a distance.

Note: Three species are known; that of the Atlantic is {Cephalacanthus volitans}.

{Flying jib} (Naut.), a sail extended outside of the standing jib, on the flying-jib boom.

{Flying-jib boom} (Naut.), an extension of the jib boom.

{Flying kites} (Naut.), light sails carried only in fine weather.

{Flying lemur}. (Zo["o]l.) See {Colugo}.

{Flying level} (Civil Engin.), a reconnoissance level over the course of a projected road, canal, etc.

{Flying lizard}. (Zo["o]l.) See {Dragon}, n. 6.

{Flying machine}, any apparatus for navigating through the air, especially a heavier-than-air machine. -- {Flying mouse} (Zo["o]l.), the opossum mouse ({Acrobates pygm[ae]us}), a marsupial of Australia. Called also {feathertail glider}.

Note: It has lateral folds of skin, like the flying squirrels, and a featherlike tail. -- {Flying party} (Mil.), a body of soldiers detailed to hover about an enemy. -- {Flying phalanger} (Zo["o]l.), one of several species of small marsuupials of the genera {Petaurus} and {Belideus}, of Australia and New Guinea, having lateral folds like those of the flying squirrels. The sugar squirrel ({Belideus sciureus}), and the ariel ({Belideus ariel}), are the best known; -- called also {squirrel petaurus} and {flying squirrel}. See {Sugar squirrel}. -- {Flying pinion}, the fly of a clock. -- {Flying sap} (Mil.), the rapid construction of trenches (when the enemy's fire of case shot precludes the method of simple trenching), by means of gabions placed in juxtaposition and filled with earth. -- {Flying shot}, a shot fired at a moving object, as a bird on the wing. -- {Flying spider}. (Zo["o]l.) See {Ballooning spider}. -- {Flying squid} (Zo["o]l.), an oceanic squid ({Ommastrephes Bartramii} syn. {Sthenoteuthis Bartramii}), abundant in the Gulf Stream, which is able to leap out of the water with such force that it often falls on the deck of a vessel. -- {Flying squirrel} (Zo["o]l.) See {Flying squirrel}, in the Vocabulary. -- {Flying start}, a start in a sailing race in which the signal is given while the vessels are under way. -- {Flying torch} (Mil.), a torch attached to a long staff and used for signaling at night. [1913 Webster]