any of numerous stout-bodied, nonstinging insects of the order Odonata (suborder Anisoptera), the species of which prey on mosquitoes and other insects and are distinguished from the damselflies by having the wings outstretched rather than folded when at rest.
2.
(initial capital letter) Military. a two-seat, twin-turbojet U.S. attack aircraft in service since 1967, armed with a Minigun and capable of carrying nearly 5700 lb. (2585 kg) of ordnance.
Regional variation note: 1.the dragonfly is also called a darning needle and a devil's darning needle in the Northern and Western U.S. In the Northern U.S. it is also called a sewing needle. In the Midland U.S. it is called a snake feeder, in the South Midland and Southern U.S. a snake doctor, and in the Southern U.S., esp. in the Southern Coastal areas, it is called a mosquito hawk or a skeeter hawk.Spindle is also in use, chiefly in New Jersey and in the Delaware Valley. Ear sewer is in older use in some scattered regional areas.
drag·on·fly (drāg'ən-flī') n. Any of various large insects of the order Odonata or suborder Anisoptera, having a long slender body and two pairs of narrow, net-veined wings that are usually held outstretched while the insect is at rest. Also called regionally darner, darning needle, devil's darning needle, ear sewer, mosquito fly, mosquito hawk, needle, skeeter hawk, snake doctor, snake feeder, spindle. Regional terms for the dragonfly are numerous—the Dictionary of American Regional English lists nearly 80 of them. The greatest variety of terms is to be found in the South, where the most widespread term is snake doctor (a name based on a folk belief that dragonflies take care of snakes). The Midland equivalent is snake feeder. Speakers from the Lower South and the Mississippi Valley, on the other hand, are more likely to refer to the same insect as a mosquito fly, mosquito hawk, or, in the South Atlantic states, a skeeter hawk. The imagery outside the South often alludes to the insect's shape rather than its behavior or diet: speakers in the West, Upper North, and New England call it a darner, darning needle, or, less commonly, a devil's darning needle, and those in the Upper North also refer to it just as a needle; those in Coastal New Jersey, a spindle; and those in the San Francisco Bay area, an ear sewer, that is, a creature that sews up your ears.
[drag-uh
n-flahy] 