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Mosquito

   Also found in: Medical, Encyclopedia, Wikipedia, Hutchinson 0.01 sec.
Mos·qui·to  (m-skt)
n. pl. Mosquito or Mos·qui·tos
See Miskito.

mos·qui·to  (m-skt)
n. pl. mos·qui·toes or mos·qui·tos
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.

[Spanish and Portuguese, from diminutive of mosca, fly, from Latin musca.]
Word History: Flies will never be popular creatures, in spite or because of their omnipresence. Two examples of the fly's influence on our lives can be found in the etymologies of the words mosquito and musket, both of which can be traced back to musca, the Latin word for fly. This Latin word became mosca in Spanish and Portuguese, Romance languages that developed from Vulgar Latin. Mosquito, the diminutive of mosca, was borrowed into English (first recorded around 1583) with the same sense "mosquito" that it had in Spanish and Portuguese. The Romance language French was the source of our word musket (first recorded around 1587), which came from French mousquet, which entered French from yet another Romance language, Italian. From Italian mosca, another descendant of Latin musca, was formed the diminutive moschetta with the senses "bolt for a catapult" and "small artillery piece." From moschetta came moschetto, "musket," the source of French mousquet. The use of moschetta, literally "little fly," to mean "bolt from a crossbow" can be ascribed to the fact that both bolt and insect fly, buzz, and sting.

mosquito [məˈskiːtəʊ]
n pl -toes, -tos
(Life Sciences & Allied Applications / Animals) any dipterous insect of the family Culicidae: the females have a long proboscis adapted for piercing the skin of man and animals to suck their blood See also aedes, anopheles, culex
[from Spanish, diminutive of mosca fly, from Latin musca]
ThesaurusLegend:  Synonyms Related Words Antonyms
Noun1.Mosquitomosquito - two-winged insect whose female has a long proboscis to pierce the skin and suck the blood of humans and animals
dipteran, dipteron, dipterous insect, two-winged insects - insects having usually a single pair of functional wings (anterior pair) with the posterior pair reduced to small knobbed structures and mouth parts adapted for sucking or lapping or piercing
gnat - (British usage) mosquito
Aedes aegypti, yellow-fever mosquito - mosquito that transmits yellow fever and dengue
Aedes albopictus, Asian tiger mosquito - striped native of Japan thriving in southwestern and midwestern United States and spreading to the Caribbean; potential carrier of serious diseases
anopheline - any mosquito of the genus Anopheles
malaria mosquito, malarial mosquito - transmits the malaria parasite
common mosquito, Culex pipiens - common house mosquito
Culex fatigans, Culex quinquefasciatus - widespread tropical mosquito that transmits filarial worms
Translations
mosquito [mɒsˈkiːtəʊ]
A. N (mosquitoes (pl)) → mosquito m, zancudo m (LAm)
B. CPD mosquito bite Npicadura f de mosquito
mosquito net Nmosquitero m, mosquitera f

mosquito [mɒˈskiːtəʊ] [mosquitoes] (pl) nmoustique m
mosquito bite npiqûre f de moustique
mosquito coil nspirale f antimoustique
mosquito netting nmoustiquaires fpl
the mosquito netting over the windows → les moustiquaires des fenêtres
mosquito repellent nantimoustique m

mosquito
n pl <-es> → Stechmücke f; (in tropics) → Moskito m

mosquito [mɒsˈkiːtəʊ] n (mosquitoes (pl)) → zanzara
mosquito [mɒsˈkiːtəʊ] n (mosquitoes (pl)) → zanzara

mosquito
n mosquito [məˈskiːtou]
any of several types of small insect, which suck blood from animals and people and in this way transmit diseases such as malaria. muskiet بَعوضَه комар moskyt myg das Moskito κουνούπι mosquito sääsk, moskiito پشه hyttynen, moskiitto moustique יָתוּש मच्छर komarac szúnyog nyamuk moskítófluga zanzara 모기 moskitas, uodas moskīts; ods nyamuk mug mygg komar, moskit mosquito ţânţar комар; москит moskyt, komár komar komarac moskit, stickmygga ยุง sivrisinek 蚊子 москіт; комар مچھر con muỗi

Mosquito بعوضة komár myg Stechmücke κουνούπι mosquito hyttynen moustique komarac zanzara 모기 mug mygg komar mosquito комар mygga ยุง sivrisinek con muỗi 蚊子


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There, buzzing in the air at the tip of his nose, was a lone mosquito.
There came a night when he raved, and the sound of a woman's name rang out from the open windows of the little bungalow, rang out through the drawn mosquito netting amongst the palm-trees, across the surf-topped sea to the great steamer which lay in the bay.
The air was calm, full of the eternal hum of insects, a tropical chorus of many octaves, from the deep drone of the bee to the high, keen pipe of the mosquito.
 
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