face vs fly

face

verb
  • To be presented or confronted with; to have in prospect. 

  • To make the surface of (anything) flat or smooth; to dress the face of (a stone, a casting, etc.); especially, in turning, to shape or smooth the flat (transverse) surface of, as distinguished from the cylindrical (axial) surface. 

  • To have the front in a certain direction. 

  • To arrange the products in (a store) so that they are tidy and attractive. 

  • To deal with (a difficult situation or person); to accept (facts, reality, etc.) even when undesirable. 

  • To cause (something) to turn or present a face or front, as in a particular direction. 

  • To have as an opponent. 

  • To position oneself or itself so as to have one's face closest to (something). 

  • To have its front closest to, or in the direction of (something else). 

  • To be the batsman on strike. 

  • To line near the edge, especially with a different material. 

  • To cover in front, for ornament, protection, etc.; to put a facing upon. 

  • To cover with better, or better appearing, material than the mass consists of, for purpose of deception, as the surface of a box of tea, a barrel of sugar, etc. 

noun
  • A person; the self; (reflexively, objectifying) oneself. 

  • The front part of the head of a human or other animal, featuring the eyes, nose, and mouth, and the surrounding area. 

  • A headlining wrestler with a persona embodying heroic or virtuous traits and who is regarded as a "good guy", especially one who is handsome and well-conditioned; a baby face. 

  • The width of a pulley, or the length of a cog from end to end. 

  • The mouth. 

  • The side of the card that shows its value (as opposed to the back side, which looks the same on all cards of the deck). 

  • One's facial expression. 

  • A distorted facial expression; an expression of displeasure, insult, etc. 

  • A familiar or well-known person; a member of a particular scene, such as the music or fashion scene. 

  • The front surface of a bat. 

  • The amount expressed on a bill, note, bond, etc., without any interest or discount; face value. 

  • Shameless confidence; boldness; effrontery. 

  • Any surface, especially a front or outer one. 

  • The frontal aspect of something. 

  • The numbered dial of a clock or watch; the clock face. 

  • The part of a golf club that hits the ball. 

  • Public image; outward appearance. 

  • Presence; sight; front. 

  • An aspect of the character or nature of someone or something. 

  • Any of the flat bounding surfaces of a polyhedron; more generally, any of the bounding pieces of a polytope of any dimension. 

  • The directed force of something. 

  • Makeup; one's complete facial cosmetic application. 

  • The head of a lion, shown face-on and cut off immediately behind the ears. 

  • A typeface. 

  • A mode of regard, whether favourable or unfavourable; favour or anger. 

  • Good reputation; standing, in the eyes of others; dignity; prestige. (See lose face, save face). 

fly

verb
  • To be accepted, come about or work out. 

  • To be in the winged adult stage. 

  • To hunt with a hawk. 

  • To travel or proceed very fast; to hasten. 

  • To proceed with great success. 

  • To move suddenly, or with violence; to do an act suddenly or swiftly. 

  • To cause to fly (travel or float in the air): to transport via air or the like. 

  • To display (a flag) on a flagpole. 

  • To hit a fly ball; to hit a fly ball that is caught for an out. Compare ground (verb) and line (verb). 

  • To travel through the air, another gas, or a vacuum, without being in contact with a grounded surface. 

adj
  • Well dressed, smart in appearance; in style, cool. 

  • Beautiful; displaying physical beauty. 

noun
  • A vibrating frame with fingers, attached to a power printing press for doing the same work. 

  • A wing. 

  • A type of small, light, fast horse-drawn carriage that can be hired for transportation (sometimes pluralised flys). 

  • Two or more vanes set on a revolving axis, to act as a fanner, or to equalize or impede the motion of machinery by the resistance of the air, as in the striking part of a clock. 

  • A lightweight fishing lure resembling an insect. 

  • The butterfly stroke (plural is normally flys). 

  • A strip of material (sometimes hiding zippers or buttons) at the front of a pair of trousers, pants, underpants, bootees, etc. 

  • Especially, any of the insects of the family Muscidae, such as the common housefly (other families of Diptera include mosquitoes and midges). 

  • A butterfly (combination of four options). 

  • An act of flying. 

  • One of the upper screens of a stage in a theatre. 

  • The person who took the printed sheets from the press. 

  • A piece of canvas that covers the opening at the front of a tent. 

  • The pair of arms revolving around the bobbin, in a spinning wheel or spinning frame, to twist the yarn. 

  • waste cotton 

  • Any insect of the order Diptera; characterized by having two wings (except for some wingless species), also called true flies. 

  • A simple dance in which the hands are shaken in the air, popular in the 1960s. 

  • An exercise that involves wide opening and closing of the arms perpendicular to the shoulders. 

  • A chest exercise performed by moving extended arms from the sides to in front of the chest. (also flye) 

  • Any similar, but not closely related insect, such as a dragonfly or butterfly. 

  • That part of a compass on which the points are marked; the compass card. 

  • In a knitting machine, the piece hinged to the needle, which holds the engaged loop in position while the needle is penetrating another loop; a latch.. 

  • The free edge of a flag. 

  • The horizontal length of a flag. 

  • A fly ball. 

  • The part of a vane pointing the direction from which the wind blows. 

  • Related terms: flyman 

  • A shuttle driven through the shed by a blow or jerk. 

How often have the words face and fly occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )