carpenter ant
noun
a black or brown ant of the genus Camponotus that nests in the wood of decaying or dead trees in which it bores tunnels for depositing its eggs.
Origin of carpenter ant
1First recorded in 1880–85
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use carpenter ant in a sentence
One kind of carpenter-ant covers its walls with a mixture of sawdust, earth, and spiders' webs.
The Adventures of a Grain of Dust | Hallam HawksworthAmong these are the two large species of carpenter-ant before mentioned, which work in stumps or fallen timber.
The carpenter-ant has no moral sense, and is not amenable either to kindness or blows.
Falling in Love | Grant Allen
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