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water flea

noun

  1. any of various small crustaceans that move about in the water like fleas, as those of the genus Daphnia.

water flea

noun

  1. See daphnia
    any of numerous minute freshwater branchiopod crustaceans of the order Cladocera, which swim by means of hairy branched antennae See also daphnia

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Word History and Origins

Origin of water flea1

First recorded in 1575–85

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Example Sentences

I have already spoken of the fresh-water shrimp and the water-flea (Daphnia pulex).

In short, she was a branchiopod, to be vulgarly precise, a water-flea.

The water-flea, Daphnia (a crustacean), lays two kinds of eggs known as “summer” and “winter” eggs.

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