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Synonyms

barfly

American  
[bahr-flahy] / ˈbɑrˌflaɪ /

noun

Slang.

plural

barflies

  1. a person who frequents barrooms.

barfly British  
/ ˈbɑːflaɪ /

noun

  1. informal a person who frequents bars

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of barfly

An Americanism dating back to 1905–10; bar 1 + fly 1

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Jayme Hoskins has turned into a baseball barfly and let the free beers fly during recent Phillies’ postseason games.

From Seattle Times • Nov. 2, 2022

They’ve endured agonies he’ll never understand — and a barfly like him can’t deliver a cheers that will set things right.

From New York Times • Sep. 22, 2022

And by the end of the fourth "She-Hulk" episode, "Is This Not Real Magic?" the mononymous sorcerer has an adorable barfly handle: "Wongers."

From Salon • Sep. 10, 2022

Anyone who has been a barfly at a racetrack knows that long shots occasionally win regardless of the toteboard’s odds.

From Washington Post • Oct. 30, 2020

And it should have been obvious to me, maybe not that he was an Executive Special, but that he was certainly no drunken barfly.

From Four-Day Planet by Piper, H. Beam

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.