water-flies

I sat by him, fanning off the water-flies, changing the dressings on his great half-scabbed wound, and thinking, It's for Hephaistion you are doing this.

The Persian Boy Renault, Mary 1972

Ah! how the poor world is pestered with such water-flies, diminutives of nature.

Act V. Scene I. Troilus and Cressida 1914

Doltaire had no burning love for France, and little faith in anything; for he was of those Versailles water-flies who recked not if the world blackened to cinders when their lights went out.

The Seats of the Mighty, Complete Gilbert Parker 1897

Doltaire had no burning love for France, and little faith in anything; for he was of those Versailles water-flies who recked not if the world blackened to cinders when their lights went out.

The Seats of the Mighty, Volume 1 Gilbert Parker 1897

Doltaire had no burning love for France, and little faith in anything; for he was of those Versailles water-flies who recked not if the world blackened to cinders when their lights went out.

The Project Gutenberg Complete Works of Gilbert Parker Gilbert Parker 1897

Yet this bold, independent, really great man, so shrewdly strong in his own attitude toward these gilded water-flies, was weak enough to rear his own son to be one of them, to value the baubles they valued, to view men and things through their painted spectacles -- and thus to come to grief.

In the Valley Harold Frederic 1877

To the water-sprites, the Undines of their native streams, they gave the name _xulu_, water-flies, or _ru vinakil ya_, the water people.

The Annals of the Cakchiquels Daniel Garrison Brinton 1868

Ah how the poor world is pestered with such water-flies, such diminutives of nature!

The works of John Dryden, $c now first collected in eighteen volumes. $p Volume 06 John Dryden 1665

Not only the fly but also the line has to float on the wafer; the line is very heavy and therefore the rod (split-cane or greenheart) must be stiff and powerful; special precautions have to be taken that the fly shall float unhindered and shall not "drag"; special casts have to be made to counteract awkward winds; and, lastly, the matching of the fly with the insect on the water is a matter of much nicety, for the water-flies are of many shades and colours.

Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 2, Part 1, Slice 1 Various