pismire
5 dictionary results for: Pismire
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This
pis·mire 
[pis-mahyuhr, piz-] Pronunciation Key
[pis-mahyuhr, piz-] Pronunciation Key –noun
| an ant. |
[Origin: 1350–1400; ME pissemyre, equiv. to pisse to urinate + obs. mire ant, perh. < Scand (cf. Dan myre, Sw myra), c. D mier; pejorative name from stench of formic acid proper to ants]
]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
| pis·mire
(pĭs'mīr', pĭz'-) Pronunciation Key
n. An ant. [Middle English pissemyre : pisse, urine (from the smell of the formic acid that ants secrete); see piss + mire, ant (probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Danish myre).] |
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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
pismire
pismire
c.1386, from pyss "urine" (in reference to the acrid smell of an anthill) + mire "an ant," probably from O.N. maurr "ant," perhaps distantly connected with Gk. myrmex, L. formica "ant." Cf. pissant, also early Du. mierseycke (from seycke "urine"), Finn. kusiainen (from kusi "urine").
"He is an angry as a pissemyre,Applied contemptuously to persons from 1569.
Though þat he haue al that he kan desire."
[Chaucer]
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
WordNet - Cite This Source - Share This
| pismire | |
noun | |
| social insect living in organized colonies; characteristically the males and fertile queen have wings during breeding season; wingless sterile females are the workers [syn: ant] |
WordNet® 3.0, © 2006 by Princeton University.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
Pismire
Pis"mire\, n. [Piss + mire; so called because it discharges a moisture vulgarly considered urine. See Mire an ant.] (Zo["o]l.) An ant, or emmet.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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