fly-by-night

[ flahy-bahy-nahyt ]

adjective

1. not reliable or responsible, especially in business; untrustworthy:

   a fly-by-night operation.

2. not lasting; brief; impermanent; transitory:

   a fly-by-night theater.

noun

1. a person or thing that is unreliable, especially a debtor who evades or attempts to evade creditors.
2. a person regarded as a poor credit risk.

fly-by-night

adjective

1. unreliable or untrustworthy, esp in finance
2. brief; impermanent

noun

1. an untrustworthy person, esp one who departs secretly or by night to avoid paying debts
2. a person who goes out at night to places of entertainment

fly-by-night

1. Shady or untrustworthy: “Before buying stock in a newly formed company, the prudent investor will check its owners' credentials to make sure it's not a fly-by-night operation.”

Word History and Origins

Origin of fly-by-night¹

First recorded in 1790–1800

Example Sentences

Some of the groups have been around for decades, others are fly-by-night.

From The Daily Beast

And not fly-by-night issues either, but stalwarts such as G.E., Citi, Google.

From The Daily Beast

What gets me is, when you boil our two fly-by-night stories down, I've come here to be alone.

From Project Gutenberg

She now knew where she was, but was nearly dying from the exhaustion of his fly-by-night expeditions.

From Project Gutenberg

Throughout the country local managers began to steal the Madison Square plays and put them on with "fly-by-night" companies.

From Project Gutenberg

Theres hundreds of these little fly-by-night mining camps in this here Western country.

From Project Gutenberg

Shown up in our newspapers as a ditch-digger—a fly-by-night—a nobody!

From Project Gutenberg