Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of various two-winged insects of the family Culicidae, in which the female of most species is distinguished by a long proboscis for sucking blood. Some species are vectors of diseases such as malaria and yellow fever. Also called regionally skeeter. See Regional Note at possum.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One of many different kinds of gnats or midges the female of which bites animals and draws blood. They are insects of the order Diptera, suborder Nemocera, and chiefly of the family Culicidœ or gnats, though some members of related families, as Simuliidæ, are called mosquitos, the term being applied in most parts of the world to gnats which have a piercing and sucking proboscis and annoy man. The name is said to have arisen in the West Indies, where it specifically designates Culex mosquito, a gnat streaked with silvery white and having a black proboscis. Mosquitos are commonly supposed to be especially tropical insects; but they swarm in summer in almost inconceivable numbers in arctic and cold temperate latitudes, as in Labrador, or in the region of the Red River of the North, and throughout the moist wooded or marshy regions of British America. They breed in water, and hence are most numerous in marshy and swampy places. The life of the adult insect is very brief, and its natural food is a drop or two of the juice or moisture of plants. See cut under
gnat .
Wiktionary
- n. A small flying insect of the family Culicidae, known for biting and sucking blood, leaving an itching bump on the skin. However, only the female of the species bites animals and humans. They are known to carry diseases like malaria and yellow fever.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Any one of various species of gnats of the genus Culex and allied genera. The females have a proboscis containing, within the sheathlike labium, six fine, sharp, needlelike organs with which they puncture the skin of man and animals to suck the blood. These bites, when numerous, cause, in many persons, considerable irritation and swelling, with some pain. The larvæ and pupæ, called wigglers, are aquatic.
WordNet 3.0
- n. two-winged insect whose female has a long proboscis to pierce the skin and suck the blood of humans and animals
Etymologies
- Spanish and Portuguese, from diminutive of mosca, fly, from Latin musca.
Examples
“(No mosquito bites for him)] _The yellow fever mosquito_ is domestic like the house cat.”
“_The mosquito leaving the pupa skin_] _The malaria mosquito_ is domestic like the chicken and lives around in houses hiding in the grass, bushes or dark corners and comes out to bite at night.”
“Additional insect-related research rewarded this year was that of Bart Knols and Ruurd de Jong of the Netherlands, who won the Biology prize for showing that the female malaria mosquito is attracted equally to the smells of limburger cheese and human feet.”
“_Mosquito_ is the Spanish diminutive name of a fly: but what we call a mosquito, the Spaniards in Central America call by another name, _sanchujo_.”
“So judge of our surprise when this wonderful London cousin of ours first produced a large jar of what he called mosquito cream, and proceeded to smear his face and hands with the odorous compound.”
Our Home in the Silver West A Story of Struggle and Adventure
“A similarity between his name, as they pronounced it, and the English word "mosquito," -- or, as they called it”
“For instance, shipping in mosquito netting instead of helping the people make their own.”
“Not just any old rock star, but one who used to cross dress, and rhymes the word mosquito with libido in his most famous song.”
“But until it becomes a commercial product, those of us unlucky enough to lack our own built-in mosquito-repellant chemicals will have to make do with DEET.”
“I may curse you when I spend humid summers here completely covered in mosquito bites, but trust me, I don't mean it! max said ...”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘mosquito’.
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Eesily missspellable words
absence, abundance, accessible, accidentally, acclaim, accommodate, accomplish, accordion, accumulate, achievement, acquaintance, across and 420 more...
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Nature and Environment
north, east, west, mountain, sea, beach, river, northeast, northwest, southeast, southwest, island and 205 more...
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What's our vector, Victor?
liposome, vector clock, plasmid, mosquito, Aedes aegypti, Euclidian vector, vector soliton, initialization ve..., bra vector, covector, killing vector, zoonotic vector and 9 more...
ruzuzu "My friends, lend me your ears. I have a story to tell you about Mr. Mosquito.... Beware of Cousin Mosquito and his solo." Nov 14, 2010
oroboros An inhabitant of Moscow? Nov 14, 2010
oroboros "No me moleste, mosquito, just let me eat my burrito!" --The Doors Aug 21, 2007
oroboros Daffynition: an insect that actually makes you like flies...better. Jan 6, 2007