fly-brush

She was about 12 years old when she was given a job in the house, operating the fly-brush.

Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves Georgia Narratives, Part 2 Work Projects Administration

The fly-brush was constructed so that a piece of cloth, fastened on a wooden frame with hinges, could be pulled back and forth with a cord.

Slave Narratives: A Folk History of Slavery in the United States From Interviews with Former Slaves Georgia Narratives, Part 2 Work Projects Administration

A black girl brushed off the flies with a paper fly-brush, and another waited on table.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 04, No. 25, November, 1859 Various

She had picked up the paper fly-brush and sat waving it irregularly, as if she were trying to brush away a swarm of confusing ideas.

VII. Book Two: Enid 1922

She had picked up the paper fly-brush and sat waving it irregularly, as if she were trying to brush away a swarm of confusing ideas.

One of Ours Willa Sibert Cather 1910

Then there was quiet for a space, broken only by the click of knives against the heavy china and the indolent rustle of Cynthia's fly-brush.

The Gentleman from Indiana Booth Tarkington 1907

He nodded in reply and was leaving the room when Cynthia detained him by a flourish of the fly-brush.

The Gentleman from Indiana Booth Tarkington 1907

They sat down at either end of the dining-room table, Simmons standing at one side, his yellow eyes gleaming with interested affection and his fly-brush of long peacock feathers waving steadily, even when he moved about with the decanter.

The Awakening of Helena Richie Margaret Wade Campbell Deland 1901

She is also provided with a caudal appendage that ends in a patent fly-brush.

The Complete Works of Brann the Iconoclast, Volume 1. 1898

For it is obvious that a tail-fin must be used in quite a different way from a tail, which serves as a fly-brush in hoofed animals, or as an aid to springing in the kangaroo or as a climbing organ; it will require quite different reflex-mechanisms and nerve combinations in the motor centres.

Evolution in Modern Thought Gustav Schwalbe 1880