flight

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
flight/flʌɪt/

▶noun

• 1 the action or process of flying.

  ■ a journey made in an aircraft or in space.

  ■ the movement or trajectory of a projectile through the air.

• 2 a flock of birds or body of insects flying in the air.

• 3 a group of aircraft operating together, especially an RAF or USAF unit of about six aircraft.

• 4 the action of fleeing.

• 5 a series of steps between floors or levels.

  ■ a sequence of locks by which a canal ascends an incline.

  ■ a series of hurdles across a racetrack.

• 6 a highly imaginative but impractical idea: a flight of fancy.

• 7 the tail of an arrow or dart.

▶verb

• 1 Brit. (in sport) deliver (a ball) with well-judged trajectory and pace.

• 2 provide (an arrow or dart) with a flight.

• 3 shoot (wildfowl) in flight.

– phrases
in full flight while moving very fast.
take flight

• 1 (of a bird) take off and fly.

• 2 flee.

– origin OE flyht, of Gmc origin; rel. to fly1.