INSECTS

Noun

insects

plural of insect

Anagrams

• incests, sentics

Source: Wiktionary


INSECT

In"sect, n. Etym: [F.insecte, L. insectum, fr. insectus, p.p. of insecare to cut in. See Section. The name was originally given to certain small animals, whose bodies appear cut in, or almost divided. Cf. Entomology.]

1. (Zoöl.)

Definition: One of the Insecta; esp., one of the Hexapoda. See Insecta.

Note: The hexapod insects pass through three stages during their growth, viz., the larva, pupa, and imago or adult, but in some of the orders the larva differs little from the imago, except in lacking wings, and the active pupa is very much like the larva, except in having rudiments of wings. In the higher orders, the larva is usually a grub, maggot, or caterpillar, totally unlike the adult, while the pupa is very different from both larva and imago and is inactive, taking no food.

2. (Zoöl.)

Definition: Any air-breathing arthropod, as a spider or scorpion.

3. (Zoöl.)

Definition: Any small crustacean. In a wider sense, the word is often loosely applied to various small invertebrates.

4. Fig.: Any small, trivial, or contemptible person or thing. Thomson. Insect powder,a powder used for the extermination of insects; esp., the powdered flowers of certain species of Pyrethrum, a genus now merged in Chrysanthemum. Called also Persian powder.

In"sect, a.

1. Of or pertaining to an insect or insects.

2. Like an insect; small; mean; ephemeral.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

25 November 2024

ONCHOCERCIASIS

(noun) infestation with slender threadlike roundworms (filaria) deposited under the skin by the bite of black fleas; when the eyes are involved it can result in blindness; common in Africa and tropical America


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