7 results for: pismire

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pisiform bone

pisiforms

PISIG

pisistratidae

Pisistratus

PISITREP

PISM

PiSMA

Pismire

pismires

pismo clam

PISMS

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piso

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Pison

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

pis·mire

Audio Help [pis-mahy^uh

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.

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pismire

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American Heritage Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

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).]

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Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
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,
Though þat he haue al that he kan desire."
[Chaucer]

Applied contemptuously to persons from 1569.

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]