gadfly

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English

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WOTD – 22 June 2022

Etymology

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Adeer botfly(Cephenemyia stimulator), atypeof gadfly(sense 1).
An unidentifiedhorsefly(Tabanusspecies), also known as a gadfly(sense 1).

Fromgad(“(obsolete) sharp point, spike; (dialectal) sharp-pointed rod for driving cattle, horses, etc., goad”)+‎fly,in the sense of a fly which irritates cattle, etc., by biting them, similar to the prodding of a goad.[1]Gadis derived fromMiddle Englishgad,gadde(“metal spike with a sharp point; stick with a sharp point for driving animals, goad; metal bar or rod, ingot; (by extension) lump of material; metal rod for measuring land; (by extension) unit of linear measure equal to about 10 to 16 feet”),[2]borrowed fromOld Norsegaddr(“spike; goad”),fromProto-Germanic*gazdaz(“spike; goad”),further etymology uncertain.

Sense 2.1.1 ( “person who upsets the status quo” ) may allude to theApologyby the Greek philosopherPlato(428/427 or 424/423 – 348/347B.C.E.), where he describesSocrates(c.470 – 399B.C.E.) acting as a goad to the Athenian political scene like a gadfly (Ancient Greekμῠ́ωψ(múōps)) arousing a sluggish horse.[3]

Pronunciation

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Noun

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gadfly(pluralgadflies)

  1. Anydipterous(“two-winged”)insectorflyof thefamilyOestridae(commonlyknownas abotfly) orTabanidae(horsefly),notedforirritatinganimalsbybuzzingabout them, andbitingthem tosucktheirblood;agadbee.
    (botfly):Synonym:warble fly
    (horsefly):Synonyms:stoat-fly,stout
    • 1593,Gabriel Harvey,Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse,London:[…]Iohn Wolfe,→OCLC;republished asJohn Payne Collier,editor,Pierces Supererogation: Or A New Prayse of the Old Asse. A Preparative to Certaine Larger Discourses, IntituledNashesS. Fame(Miscellaneous Tracts. Temp. Eliz. & Jac. I;no. 8), [London:[s.n.],1870],→OCLC,page147:
      He that made that ryme in jeſt, little conſidered what agad-flymay doe in earneſt. It is ſmall wiſedome to contemne the ſmalleſt enemy; thegad-flyis a little creature, but ſome little creatures be ſtingers;[…]
    • a.1749(date written),James Thomson,“Summer”, inThe Seasons,London:[…]A[ndrew]Millar,and sold byThomas Cadell,[…],published1768,→OCLC,page65,lines498–499:
      Light fly his ſlumbers, if perchance a flight / Of angrygad-fliesfaſten on the herd;[…]
    • 1841,R[alph] W[aldo] Emerson,“Essay I. History.”, inEssays,Boston, Mass.: James Munroe and Company,→OCLC,pages18–19:
      The nomads of Africa are constrained to wander by the attacks of thegadfly,which drives the cattle mad, and so compels the tribe to emigrate in the rainy season and drive off the cattle to the higher sandy regions.
    • 2005,Rafael Argullol,“Introduction”, in Yolanda Gamboa, transl.,The End of the World as a Work of Art: A Western Story,Lewisburg, Pa.:Bucknell University Press;Cranbury, N.J.:Associated University Presses,→ISBN,page48:
      VengefulHeratransformed her [Io] into an animal (a beautiful cow), and imposed upon her the company of agadflyto sting her continuously, thus forcing her to escape on an endless pilgrimage.
  2. (figuratively,alsoattributively)
    1. Apersonorthingthat irritates orinstigates.
      1. (specifically)A person whoupsetsthestatus quobyposingnovelorupsettingquestions,orattemptstostimulateinnovationby being anirritant.
        Synonyms:seeThesaurus:maverick
        • 1977,Morris Kline,Why the Professor Can’t Teach: Mathematics and the Dilemma of University Education,New York, N.Y.:St. Martin’s Press,→ISBN,page238:
          There is a function for thegadflywho poses questions that many specialists would like to overlook. Polemics is healthy.
        • 2012,Andrew Martin, “The World of Charles Pearson”, inUnderground Overground: A Passenger’s History of the Tube,London:Profile Books,→ISBN,pages26–27:
          What was required now was the intervention of some men who were notgadflies.[…]The logic of[Charles] Pearson's arguments was accepted, up to a point, by a consortium of businessmen. In August 1854,[…]the consortium obtained royal assent for[…]the Metropolitan Railway.[…]In 1859, when it looked as though the Metropolitan Railway Company would be wound up with no line built, he [Pearson] wrote a pamphlet:A Twenty Minutes Letter to the Citizens of London in Favour of the Metropolitan Railway and City Station.Gadflyhe may have been, but by this 'letter' he persuaded the Corporation of London to invest £200,000 in the line, a most unusual example of a public body investing in a Victorian railway.
        • 2021April 10,John Leland,“This heroin-using professor wants to change how we think about drugs”, inThe New York Times‎[1],New York, N.Y.:The New York Times Company,→ISSN,→OCLC,archived fromthe originalon28 May 2022:
          Dr.[Carl] Hart,54, the first tenured African-American science professor at Columbia, is agadflyamong drug researchers and a rock star among advocates for decriminalizing drugs.
    2. Synonym ofgadabout(“a person whorestlesslymovesfromplaceto place,seekingamusementor thecompanionshipof others”)
      Synonym:social butterfly
    3. (derogatory,slang)A person whotakeswithoutgivingback; abloodsucker.
      Synonyms:seeThesaurus:scrounger
      He’s a regulargadflyand takes advantage of his friend’s generosity.

Derived terms

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Translations

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insect of the family Oestridae—seebotfly
insect of the family Tabanidae—seehorsefly
synonym ofgadabout—seegadabout
person who takes without giving back—seebloodsucker

References

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  1. ^“gadfly,n.andadj.”,inOED OnlinePaid subscription required⁠,Oxford, Oxfordshire:Oxford University Press,March 2022;“gadfly,n.”,inLexico,Dictionary.com;Oxford University Press,2019–2022.
  2. ^“gad(de,n.”,inMED Online,Ann Arbor, Mich.:University of Michigan,2007.
  3. ^Plato(1966) “Apology”,inHarold North Fowler,transl.,Plato in Twelve Volumes(Loeb Classical Library), volume I, Cambridge, Mass.:Harvard University Press;London:William Heinemann,→OCLC,section 30e:“For if you put me to death, you will not easily find another, who, to use a rather absurd figure, attaches himself to the city as a gadfly to a horse, which, though large and well bred, is sluggish on account of his size and needs to be aroused by stinging.”

Further reading

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