LOUSE

louse, sucking louse

(noun) wingless usually flattened bloodsucking insect parasitic on warm-blooded animals

worm, louse, insect, dirt ball

(noun) a person who has a nasty or unethical character undeserving of respect

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

louse (plural lice or louses)

A small parasitic wingless insect of the order Psocodea.

(colloquial, dated, not usually used in plural form) A contemptible person; one who is deceitful or causes harm.

Usage notes

• When used as a term of abuse, the plural is typically louses, though lice is also possible.

Synonyms

• (insect): (North America) cootie

• (contemptible person): maggot, worm

Verb

louse (third-person singular simple present louses, present participle lousing, simple past and past participle loused)

To remove lice from.

Synonyms

• delouse

Anagrams

• Eolus, Seoul, Soule, loues, oules, ousel, soule

Source: Wiktionary

Louse, n.; pl. Lice. Etym: [OE. lous, AS. l, pl. l; akin to D. luis, G. laus, OHG. l, Icel. l, Sw. lus, Dan. luus; perh. so named because it is destructive, and akin to E. lose, loose.] (Zoöl.)

1. Any one of numerous species of small, wingless, suctorial, parasitic insects belonging to a tribe (Pediculina), now usually regarded as degraded Hemiptera. To this group belong of the lice of man and other mammals; as, the head louse of man (Pediculus capitis), the body louse (P. vestimenti), and the crab louse (Phthirius pubis), and many others. See Crab louse, Dog louse, Cattle louse, etc., under Crab, Dog, etc.

2. Any one of numerous small mandibulate insects, mostly parasitic on birds, and feeding on the feathers. They are known as Mallophaga, or bird lice, though some occur on the hair of mammals. They are usually regarded as degraded Pseudoneuroptera. See Mallophaga.

3. Any one of the numerous species of aphids, or plant lice. See Aphid.

4. Any small crustacean parasitic on fishes. See Branchiura, and Ichthvophthira.

Note: The term is also applied to various other parasites; as, the whale louse, beelouse, horse louse. Louse fly (Zoöl.), a parasitic dipterous insect of the group Pupipara. Some of them are wingless, as the bee louse.

– Louse mite (Zoöl.), any one of numerous species of mites which infest mammals and birds, clinging to the hair and feathers like lice. They belong to Myobia, Dermaleichus, Mycoptes, and several other genera.

Louse, v. t.

Definition: To clean from lice. "You sat and loused him." Swift.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition