fly-by-night

fly-by-night

Irresponsible (as if one is apt to flee unexpectedly). He struck me as a fly-by-night worker, so I was shocked when he came back the next day to finish the job.
Farlex Dictionary of Idioms.

fly-by-night

Fig. irresponsible; untrustworthy. (Alludes to a person who sneaks away secretly in the night.) The carpenter we hired was a fly-by-night worker who did a very bad job. You shouldn't deal with a fly-by-night merchant.
McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.

fly-by-night

mod. undependable; dishonest. Sam seems like such a fly-by-night character.
McGraw-Hill's Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions

fly-by-night

An unreliable or irresponsible individual, particularly one not to be trusted in business dealings. Originating in the late eighteenth century to describe a person who evades creditors by sneaking away at night, this expression is now used both as a noun and as an adjective. However, according to Francis Grose’s Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue (1796), the term was also once a derogatory name for an old woman accused of being a witch (flying at night). Much later it became British slang for a prostitute (who worked mostly at night), and by extension, a prostitute’s vagina.
The Dictionary of Clichés by Christine Ammer
See also:
  • on one's
  • on someone's
  • (in) back of (something)
  • out of one's
  • (I've) got to go
  • save someone's skin
  • (Have you) been OK?
  • other than
  • other than (something)
  • pillow-biter
References in periodicals archive
While these have led to a reduction in the selling of fake policies and number of fly-by-night insurance companies, other anomalies continue to this date, according to LTO insiders.
LTO, IC compelled to act on vehicle insurance mess
That's the fly-by-night operation that underwrote millions of dollars in junk promissory notes for companies across the nation.
On the lam. (Whispers)
If someone hears of you, but you don't have a Website, you will seem, at best, outdated and, at worst, fly-by-night.
Developing a brand: want to generate loyalty online and off? Create a killer brand. (Web Marketing)
After all, Charest and Weinberg weren't fly-by-night schlockmeisters with a reputation for creative bookkeeping.
CINAR FALLEN MASTERS
LAS VEGAS Featuring a performance that could be called a fly-by-night affair, "De La Guarda" made its Vegas bow at the Rio Hotel on Oct.
`De La Guarda's' uplifting bow
"This wasn't like a fly-by-night decision for most of these women," says Kjerulff.
Hysterectomy often improves sex life
They represent, like many of the fly-by-night monophysites and dilettantes who are allotted air time on Vision TV, merely a small minority of disgruntled persons who falsely claim to represent the majority of Canadian Catholics.
Vision TV: subtlety and blurred vision: it presumes that all religions are equivalent by nature and that there can be no real distinctions between them
If they are not careful, though, they may be hit by a second disaster not long after the first: fraudulent fly-by-night contractors.
How to avoid repair ripoffs
Some are made by fly-by-night companies; others, like Stresstabs, are made by industry giants like Lederle.
Taking supplements seriously
This holds for claims of a "money-back guarantee." Many quacks are fly-by-night operators who do not respond to refund demands.
Quackery ... the billion dollar miracle business
Funa noted the HMO industry had been plagued by fly-by-night firms that have victimized many Filipinos, especially in the provinces.
Regulator orders new HMOs to increase paid-up capital
It will foster the short-term rise of fly-by-night outfits who will be unable to sustain long-term development of players and the game, thereby leading to insecurity and the eventual decay of the sport in Dubai.
Domestic cricket in Dubai takes a hit
Many of the businesses collared in the UK Border Agency swoop are predictably fly-by-night. Some, however, are big enough to know better.
Slap in face for jobless; SAYS
Thatcher decimated the town when she drove the steel mills under, which makes it a measure of how low the Blairs took Labour that Corby voted Tory last time and ended up with a fly-by-night, flibbertigibbet multimillionairess MP like Louise Mensch who has, well, flown by night - all the way to New York to join her billionaire new husband, leaving Corby in the lurch.
Fly-by-night MP Mensch flies by night
He has been exposed as a fly-by-night, a Bob Crow sycophant, in it for himself.
Journalism in a land of fantasy; Views of the North