midge

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“
Distinguishables do not sound alike or look alike, but their meanings overlap, for example, midge, gnat, and mosquito, or divan and couch.

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Definitions (16)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (3)

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

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (10)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (2)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples

  • Distinguishables do not sound alike or look alike, but their meanings overlap, for example, midge, gnat, and mosquito, or divan and couch. —  VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol VIII No 3
  • -- Children were playing in the garden of his doubting, among the midge-clouds and rosebushes and despair. —  The Satanic Verses
  • The light of the lanterns attracted flickering, midge-like insects, and all was quiet but for the snuffling of the hounds and the soggy sounds of the horses 'hooves in the mud. —  Villains by Necessity
  • Sorghum midge (Contarinia sorghigola: A small orange fly about 2 —  Chapter 10
  • Far ahead of us a small plane moved like a midge. —  The Quiet American
 

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Midge has been looked up 173 times, favorited once, listed 14 times, and commented on 0 times.

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English mycg.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from Middle English mydge, migge, mygge, myge, from Anglo-Saxon mycg, mygge, micge, a midge, gnat, = Old Saxon muggiā = Middle Dutch mugghe, Dutch mug = Middle Low German mugge, Low German mügge = Old High German muccā, muggā, Middle High German mucke, mücke, mugge, mügge, a midge, fly, German mücke, a midge, dial. a fly, = Icelandic my¯ = Swedish mygg, mygga = Danish myg, a midge, = Polish Russian mukha = Bohemian maucha, a fly; prob. literally ‘buzzer’ (cf. the similar literally sense of breeze, a gadfly, and of humblebee), akin to Greek μυκᾱσθαι, low; cf. also Latin mugire, low (see mugient), Greek μύζειν, mutter; an ult. imitative root. The L. musca = Greek μυῑα, etc., a fly, is not related: see Musca.
 

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/mɪdʒ/
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