Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A green or brownish predatory insect (Mantis religiosa) that while at rest folds its front legs as if in prayer.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A praying-insect. See cut under Mantis.
Wiktionary
- n. Any of various predatory, cannibalistic insects of the family Mantidae that have a prayer-like stance.
- n. A mantid of the species Mantis religiosa.
WordNet 3.0
- n. the common mantis
Examples
“My mother gamely tolerated them, along with the odd praying mantis on the net curtains, smuggled home on the Train Bleu from Menton, where my French pen-friend, Jean-Franois, lived.”
“Purple praying mantis lies in wait for insects lured by the flower that it mimics. (d) Other mantises mimic leaves; this is the nymph (a juvenile stage) of one of them.”
“Bull zoes sometimes accidentally kill their mates during the mating dance, and spiders and praying mantis females eat the male alive. ”
Futures Imperfect
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘praying mantis’.
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tHe Best Animals Ever
giraffe, elepant, cattle, water buffalo, langur monkey, baboon, lion, antelope, cheetah, tapeworm, kangaroo, bullfrog and 95 more...
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mantisic
mantis, mantisic, vatic, hylomantis, Mantisatta, Cacomantis, Athamantis, orchid mantis, romantist, sea mantis, Vox Clamantis, stagmomantis and 18 more...
milosrdenstvi One of Ogden Nash's finest:
From whence arrived the praying mantis?
From outer space, or lost Atlantis?
I glimpse the grin, green metal mug
That masks the pseudo-saintly bug,
Orthopterous, also carnivorous,
And faintly whisper, Lord deliver us. Aug 16, 2008
mollusque Citation at kukla. Aug 16, 2008
treeseed The insect order Mantodea or mantises consists of approximatively 2,300 species worldwide in temperate and tropical habitats.
The term "mantises" (or the more colloquial "praying mantises") should be used when referring to the entire order. Often mistakenly spelled preying mantis (an eggcorn, since they are notoriously predatory), they are in fact named for the typical "prayer-like" stance. The word mantis derives from the Greek word mantis for prophet or fortune teller. In Europe, the name "praying mantis" refers to only a single species, Mantis religiosa.
_Wikipedia Feb 3, 2008