Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A moth, Ocneria Hypogymna dispar of naturalists, the sexes of which differ much in appearance, the male being blackish-brown and the female grayish-white: so called in England. Also called gipsy.
  • noun Its larva is very destructive to the foliage of orchard, shade, and forest trees. A naturalist, experimenting with this insect at Medford, Mass., in 1869, accidentally allowed it to escape, and it has become thoroughly established in the country around Boston, where it has done much damage.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • We now have state commissions for controlling the gipsy-moth and the boll weevil, the foot-and-mouth disease, and for protecting the shell-fish and wild game, but we have no commission which even attempts to modify or to control the vast moral and economic forces represented by the feeble-minded persons at large in the community. ''

    Reasoned Audacity 2009

  • We now have state commissions for controlling the gipsy-moth and the boll weevil, the foot-and-mouth disease, and for protecting the shell-fish and wild game, but we have no commission which even attempts to modify or to control the vast moral and economic forces represented by the feeble-minded persons at large in the community. "

    The Pivot of Civilization Margaret Sanger 1924

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