gadflyEnglishOxford Dictionary of Englishgadfly /ˈɡadflʌɪ / ▸ noun (plural gadflies) a fly that bites livestock, especially a horsefly, warble fly, or botfly. ▪ derogatory a person who annoys or criticizes others in order to provoke them into action: always a gadfly, he attacked intellectual orthodoxies. – ORIGIN late 16th century: from gad1, or obsolete gad ‘goad, spike’, from Old Norse gaddr, of Germanic origin; related to yard1.
EnglishOxford Dictionary of EnglishEnglishOxford Dictionary of English
