flyby
UK[ˈflaɪbaɪ]US[ˈflaɪˌbaɪ]
n
a flight of a spacecraft close to a planet or moon for observation, especially without landing or going into orbit.
n
a flight of an aircraft past a particular point, especially as part of a display.
Morpheme Breakdown
fly
by
fly
to move through the air
by
past a point
Etymology
the word 'flyby' is a modern english compound, formed in the 20th century by combining two native english elements. the first element, 'fly', descends from the old english verb flēogan, which has maintained its core meaning of moving through the air from its proto-germanic root. the second element, 'by', originates from the old english preposition bī, meaning 'near' or 'past', from a common germanic source. the compound literally means 'to fly past', a concept applied first to low-altitude aircraft passes and later adopted by space science to describe a spacecraft's close, observational pass of a celestial body without entering its orbit, perfectly capturing the transient, proximate nature of the maneuver.
Analysis
Structure: fly (to move through the air) + by (past a point)
fly: from old english flēogan, of germanic origin; the verb meaning to move through the air.
by: from old english bī, big, of germanic origin; a preposition/adverb meaning near, past, or alongside.
Examples
the spacecraft will perform a flyby of jupiter to gather data on its atmosphere.
the airshow featured an impressive flyby of fighter jets in formation.
scientists are analyzing the images sent back from the recent lunar flyby.