Meaning: Untrustworthy or undependable; usually used to describe businesses or salespeople.

Examples:

There are many fly-by-night providers of goods on the internet, so buying products online only from reputable websites is probably a good idea.

A fly-by-night salesman at the market yesterday sold me a flawed product that doesn’t even work.​

My uncle lost his savings by getting involved with a fly-by-night investment company.

Pop Quiz:

What should you do if someone calls a company fly-by-night?

A.  Avoid this company.

B.  Try to do business with this company.

C.  Apply for a job with this company.

To see the correct answer, click on “Continue reading”:

The correct answer is A. Fly-by-night means untrustworthy, so if someone or something can’t be trusted, you’d better avoid them!