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Webster’s Dictionary (1828)



665 words match “INSECT”

GOATSUCKER n.
One of several species of insectivorous birds, belonging to Caprimulgus and allied genera, esp. the European species (Caprimulgus Europæus); -- so called from the mistaken notion that it sucks goats. The European species is also goat-milker, goat owl, goat chaffer, fern owl, night hawk, nightjar, night churr, churr-owl…
GOLDEN a.
s guard him in the golden mean. Pope. -- Golden mole (Zoöl), one of several South African Insectivora of the family Chrysochloridæ, resembling moles in form and habits. The fur is tinted with green, purple, and gold. -- Golden number (Chronol.), a number showing the year of the lunar or Metonic cycle. It is reckoned f…
GORDIUS n.
A genus of long, slender, nematoid worms, parasitic in insects until near maturity, when they leave the insect, and live in water, in which they deposit their eggs; -- called also hair eel, hairworm, and hair snake, from the absurd, but common and widely diffused, notion that they are metamorphosed horsehairs.…
GRAIN n.
A reddish dye made from the coccus insect, or kermes; hence, a red color of any tint or hue, as crimson, scarlet, etc.; sometimes used by the poets as equivalent to Tyrian purple. All in a robe of darkest grain. Milton. Doing as the dyers do, who, having first dipped their silks in colors of less value, then give' them…
GRANILLA n.
Small grains or dust of cochineal or the coccus insect.
GRAPE n.
on grapevines; vine mildew. -- Grape hopper (Zoöl.), a Small yellow and red hemipterous insect, often very injurious to the leaves of the grapevine. -- Grape moth (Zoöl.), a small moth (Eudemis botrana), which in the larval state eats the interior of grapes, and often binds them together with silk. -- Grape of a ca…
GRASSHOPPER n.
Any jumping, orthopterous insect, of the families Acrididæ and Locustidæ. The species and genera are very numerous. The former family includes the Western grasshopper or locust (Caloptenus spretus), noted for the great extent of its ravages in the region beyond the Mississippi. In the Eastern United States the red-legg…
GREEN n.
pigment for wall paper, artificial flowers, etc., but particularly as an exterminator of insects, as the potato bug; -- called also Schweinfurth green, imperial green, Vienna green, emerald qreen, and mitis green. -- Scheele's green (Chem.), a green pigment, consisting essentially of a hydrous arsenite of copper; --…
GRESSORIAL; GRESSORIOUS a.
Adapted for walking; anisodactylous; as the feet of certain birds and insects. See Illust. under Aves.
GROUND n.
ittacus and Geopsittacus, which live mainly upon the ground. -- Ground pearl (Zoöl.), an insect of the family Coccidæ (Margarodes formicarum), found in ants' nests in the Bahamas, and having a shelly covering. They are strung like beads, and made into necklaces by the natives. -- Ground pig (Zoöl.), a large, burrowin…
GRUB n.
The larva of an insect, especially of a beetle; -- called also grubworm. See Illust. of Goldsmith beetle, under Goldsmith. Yet your butterfly was a grub. Shak.
GRYLLUS n.
A genus of insects including the common crickets.
GULA n.
A plate which in most insects supports the submentum.
HAIR n.
A slender outgrowth from the chitinous cuticle of insects, spiders, crustaceans, and other invertebrates. Such hairs are totally unlike those of vertebrates in structure, composition, and mode of growth.
HARPY n.
the genus Harpyia (esp. H. cerphalotes), having prominent, tubular nostrils. (b) A small, insectivorous Indian bat (Harpiocephalus harpia). Harpy fly (Zoöl.), the house fly.
HARVEST n.
ing in Virginia. Also applied to the dollar fish. -- Harvest fly (Zoöl.), an hemipterous insect of the genus Cicada, often called locust. See Cicada. -- Harvest lord, the head reaper at a harvest. [Obs.] Tusser. -- Harvest mite (Zoöl.), a minute European mite (Leptus autumnalis), of a bright crimson color, which is…
HATCH v.
oung; -- said of eggs; to come forth from the egg; -- said of the young of birds, fishes, insects, etc.
HAUSTELLATA n.
An artificial division of insects, including all those with a sucking proboscis.
HAUSTELLUM n.
The sucking proboscis of various insects. See Lepidoptera, and Diptera.
HEDGEHOG n.
A small European insectivore (Erinaceus Europæus), and other allied species of Asia and Africa, having the hair on the upper part of its body mixed with prickles or spines. It is able to roll itself into a ball so as to present the spines outwardly in every direction. It is nocturnal in its habits, feeding chiefly upon…
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