A strip of sticky paper hung to trap and kill flying insects, especially flies, using adhesive rather than poison.
Compound of 'fly' and 'paper.' The term emerged in the late 19th century with the commercial development of sticky adhesive papers. Flypaper became widely available after the 1870s and represented a non-toxic pest control innovation.
Flypaper was considered a marvel of modern cleanliness in the early 1900s—kitchens would have strips hanging from the ceiling, slowly accumulating trapped flies as a visible sign of good housekeeping! The invention was so successful it inspired jokes and idioms about things that 'stick like flypaper.'
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