LOUSED

Verb

loused

simple past tense and past participle of louse

Anagrams

• desoul, souled

Source: Wiktionary


LOUSE

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



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Word of the Day

22 February 2025

ANALYSIS

(noun) the use of closed-class words instead of inflections: e.g., ‘the father of the bride’ instead of ‘the bride’s father’


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Coffee Trivia

Coffee has initially been a food – chewed, not sipped. Early African tribes consume coffee by grinding the berries together, adding some animal fat, and rolling the treats into tiny edible energy balls.

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