American Heritage Dictionary
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Century Dictionary
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GNU Webster's 1913
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WordNet
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Honeybee Stinger - The stinger is located on female honeybees at the end of the abdomen and is part of the ovipositor, which is an egg-laying device.
The honeybee stinger has a hook-shaped barb and when it catches in a victim the bee can't fly away without inflicting the fatal wound of tearing out its ovipositor along with some internal organs.
This act is accomplished by a knife-like ovipositor, which literally gouges a deep gash into the tender wood of various twigs, a number of the eggs being implanted in its depths, often causing the death of the branch.— My Studio Neighbors
Knowing that the little insect was provided with a keen-edged ovipositor, and was in the habit of thrusting its tiny eggs beneath the bark, and realizing, too, that these strange tufts were of course in some way connected with the maternal instinct, I was led to investigate.— My Studio Neighbors

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