flying visit

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flying visit (plural flying visits)

1. (idiomatic) A very short visit.

   My favorite novelist was on a flying visit to London last week for a book signing.

   • 2022 November 7, “The Guardian view on Rishi Sunak’s Cop27 trip: placing the planet on a road to hell”, in The Guardian‎:

     Rishi Sunak is not interested in the climate emergency – and everyone knows it. Forced to make a flying visit to Cop27, Mr Sunak’s intransigence made him an outcast at the UN summit in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.

   • 2022 November 16, Paul Bigland, “From rural branches to high-speed arteries”, in RAIL, number 970, page 55:

     COVID seems to have increased traffic to such locations, as 'staycations' have become more popular. But for me, it's a flying visit. I am merely changing trains to continue along the coast to Hastings, aboard another Southern Class 377.

• whistle-stop