Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of several small wingless parasitic insects of the family Cimicidae, especially Cimex lectularius, which infests dwellings and bedding and feeds on human blood.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The Cimex lectularius or Acanthia lectularia, infesting beds. See bug.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) A wingless, bloodsucking, hemipterous insect (Cimex Lectularius), sometimes infesting houses and especially beds. See Illustration in Appendix.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Small nocturnal insects of the family Cimicidae that feed on the blood of humans and other warm-blooded hosts.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun bug of temperate regions that infests especially beds and feeds on human blood
  • noun bug of temperate regions that infests especially beds and feeds on human blood

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word bedbug.

Examples

  • After an employee complained, officials sent in bedbug-sniffing dogs, which detected the pests in two cubicles and a small storage area on the fourth floor - apparently in the Africa bureau - according to an e-mail we received late Monday.

    Rahm Emanuel's leaving. But what about his kids' school slots? Al Kamen 2010

  • After an employee complained, officials sent in bedbug-sniffing dogs, which detected the pests in two cubicles and a small storage area on the fourth floor - apparently in the Africa bureau - according to an e-mail we received late Monday.

    Rahm Emanuel's leaving. But what about his kids' school slots? Al Kamen 2010

  • On Aug. 10, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a consumer alert about off-label bedbug treatments, warning in particular of the dangers of using outdoor pesticides in homes.

    TIME.com: Top Stories 2010

  • "The term bedbug can be a misnomer," says Henriksen.

    What you should know about bedbugs when you travel 2010

  • A bedbug is a small rusty-red or mahogany colored, oval-shaped insect that feeds on the blood of humans and animals.

    NewsBlaze.com Current News - Top Stories 2010

  • Ruben Quinones, 33, director of sales and social media for Path Interactive, a digital advertising agency in New York City that provides services to a handful of pest control companies, called the bedbug search environment over the last few weeks "ridiculously competitive."

    NYT > Home Page By TANZINA VEGA 2010

  • Some of New York City's most iconic buildings have faced attacks by the dreaded cimex lectularius, commonly known as the bedbug and more threatening, in its insidious way, than King Kong.

    Yahoo! News: Business - Opinion 2010

  • Yet here in New York, spot infestations of bedbugs, which do not even attack you unless you are asleep (try convincing a mosquito to do that) and do not spread disease, have rendered the entire city indescribably nervous, to the point that people will discard every last bit of furniture they own, spend tens of thousands of dollars on fancy exterminators, and shut down even hospital rooms upon the sight of a single bedbug, which is not even that big.

    Gawker 2010

  • I admit: It's unlikely that a bug that large would lack legs, although I do still think it's plausible that he lost them in some kind of bedbug warfare.

    It's Not You, It's Your Bedbugs Amy Bonnaffons 2010

  • At the word "bedbug," I had shot out from under the covers, and stood pressed against the wall, as far away as possible from the teeming nest of vermin I now envisioned as our bed.

    Sick Cycle Carousel 2010

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • Unfortunately, this word reminds me of an enforced stay in Singapore while waiting for a visa to be approved.

    May 19, 2008

  • Interesting article here about bedbugs bedeviling the rich.

    May 7, 2010

  • Bed evils indeed.

    May 7, 2010

  • I was struck by this line in particular, in the linked article: "Like any other force that stalks by night, Cimex lectularius are known by many names: the mahogany flat; the heavy dragoon; the crimson rambler; the Nachtkrabbler; and, most simply of all, the redcoat."

    May 7, 2010

  • Eeeeeew.

    May 14, 2010