midge

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various gnatlike flies of the family Chironomidae, found worldwide and frequently occurring in swarms near ponds and lakes.
2. n. Any of various similar dipteran insects, such as the biting midges of the family Ceratopogonidae.
3. n. A little person.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A two-winged fly of the order Diptera and suborder Nemocera; a gnat or some insect resembling one: a popular name applied with little discrimination to many different insects. They chiefly belong to the families Simuliidæ, Tipudidæ, Chironomidæ, and Culicidæ. The term is sometimes specifically applied to the Chironomidæ. The eggs of some of the last-named family, like those of mosquitos and other gnats, are deposited in water, where they undergo metamorphosis, first into larvæ and then into pupæ, in which latter slate when ripe they rise to the surface, and the imago or perfect insect emerges. See gnat.
2. n. Something small of its kind, as the fry of fish; a dwarf; a midget. A very small fish, specifically called Günther's midge and Hypsiptera argentea, occasionally taken on both the American and European coasts, is supposed to be the fry of a codling of the genus Phycis.
3. n. A very small one-horse carriage used in the Isle of Wight, England.

Wiktionary

1. n. Any of various small two-winged flies, for example, from the family Chironomidae or non-biting midges, the family Chaoboridae or phantom midges, and the family Ceratopogonidae or biting midges, all belonging to the order Diptera.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. Any one of many small, delicate, long-legged flies of the Chironomus, and allied genera, which do not bite. Their larvæ are usually aquatic.
2. n. A very small fly, abundant in many parts of the United States and Canada, noted for the irritating quality of its bite.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. minute two-winged mosquito-like fly lacking biting mouthparts; appear in dancing swarms especially near water