Other forms: flung, flings, flinging
To fling something is to throw it hard and without care. A coat flung over the back of a chair, a phone thrown onto the sofa, a door flung open so hard it bangs the wall.
The force is in the carelessness. You throw a ball to someone; you fling it away in temper. It behaves like sling and ring — fling, flung, flung, never flinged. You can fling yourself into a chair, and you can fling yourself into a new job, which means committing to it completely. The noun has two lives: a fling is a short unserious romance ('they had a fling one summer'), and 'one last fling' is a burst of enjoyment before duty starts again. The Highland fling is a Scottish dance, and once you have seen the legs go you will not forget which verb named it.
1verbflingTo throw something with force and little care.
“He would fling his bag onto the bed and go straight back out.”
2verbmoveTo move yourself or part of your body suddenly and forcefully.
“Flinging her arms round his neck, she nearly knocked him over.”
3verbopenTo open or shut something violently.
“Do not fling the window open like that.”
4nouncasualA short, casual romantic relationship.
“It was a fling, not a relationship, and they both knew it.”
5nounperiodA short period of enjoyment before returning to duty or routine.
“One last fling before the exams, and then nothing but revision.”
The noun fling comes from the verb, which English has had since Middle English. Its nearest recorded relative is Icelandic flengur, 'a fast sprint' — a Norse cousin that keeps exactly the same character: sudden, hard, and over in a second.
Middle English
fling
English, today
fling
From Middle English fling, from the verb (see below). Compare Icelandic flengur (“a fast sprint”).
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA
Practised in A Man Called Ove, Hitting & Pushing
First appears in chapter 3 of A Man Called Ove.
Practise this word