7 results for: pismire
pis·mire
Audio Help [pis-mahyuh
r, piz-] Pronunciation Key
Audio Help [pis-mahyuh
r, 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. |
pismire
To learn more about pismire visit Britannica.com
| © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. |
| pis·mire
Audio Help (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).] |
| The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved. |
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 |
| 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. |
Pismire
Mire\, n. [AS. m[=i]re, m?re; akin to D. mier, Icel. maurr, Dan. myre, Sw. myra; cf. also Ir. moirbh, Gr. ?.] An ant. [Obs.] See Pismire.| Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc. |
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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