View synonyms for bedbug

bedbug

or bed bug

[ bed-buhg ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

a flat, wingless, bloodsucking hemipterous insect, Cimex lectularius, that infests houses and especially beds.
any of several other bloodsucking bugs bug bugs of the family Cimicidae.

bedbug

/ ˈbɛdˌbʌɡ /

any of several bloodsucking insects of the heteropterous genus Cimex , esp C. lectularius of temperate regions, having an oval flattened wingless body and infesting dirty houses: family Cimicidae

Origin of bedbug¹

First recorded in 1800–10; bed + bug ¹

In fact, an Indian and a louse are natural allies—boon companions—and are as inseparable as the boarding-house bed and the bedbug.

The bedbug has not been seen in a year in Porto Rico, though there is no reason why it should not be here.

The bedbug is more of a tradition than a fact, and many of those who shudder at mention of him have never seen one of his kind.

Ants, especially the white ant, pay frequent visits to the house, but the worst scourge of all is the ravenous bedbug.

In Kansas, the bedbug is improperly called the chintz-bug, and is believed to dwell under the bark of the cotton-wood tree.

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