In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
louses
Third-person singular simple present indicative form of louse
louses
(nonstandard) plural of louse
• Soules, ousels, soleus, soules
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
28 May 2025
(noun) a distinctive but intangible quality surrounding a person or thing; “an air of mystery”; “the house had a neglected air”; “an atmosphere of defeat pervaded the candidate’s headquarters”; “the place had an aura of romance”
In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.