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# mayfly

«mayfly» in Mova's school dictionary: **A delicate insect with see-through wings and long tails…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 3 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (a mayfly, mayflies)

### meaning for a pupil

A delicate insect with see-through wings and long tails that lives for years as a young nymph in water but, as a flying adult, often lives only a day or less. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mayfly/#m1)

### sense in the lessons

In science lessons it is a famous example of a short adult life and a life cycle with nymphs; mayfly nymphs in a stream show that the water is clean. In stories and poems it stands for something that lasts a very short time. Phrases: mayfly nymph, as short-lived as a mayfly.

### examples

- The mayfly lives under water for a year but flies for only one day. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mayfly/#x1)
- We found mayfly nymphs in the stream, so the water was clean. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mayfly/#x2)
- Adult mayflies cannot eat because they have no working mouths. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mayfly/#x3)
- Thousands of mayflies danced above the lake at sunset. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mayfly/#x4)
- Trout love to eat mayflies. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mayfly/#x5)
- Her interest in chess was like a mayfly: gone by the next day. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mayfly/#x6)

### note

Plural mayflies (y becomes ies). Despite the name, mayflies are not only seen in May. Myth: they do not all live just 24 hours; some adults live a few minutes, others a couple of days.

### In the corpora

- [House flies live about two to four weeks; it is adult mayflies that may live only hours or a day.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/myths/9-small-creatures-and-creepy-crawlies/11/)
- [Some bristlecone pine trees in America are nearly 5,000 years old, while an adult mayfly may live only a day.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/religion-ethics/52-getting-old-how-long-people-and-animals-live/11/)
- [An adult mayfly lives about a day, after a year or more as a nymph underwater.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/world/128-growing-up-ages-dog-years/16/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «mayfly» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/M/mayfly/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.