pismire
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pis·mire
(pĭs′mīr′, pĭz′-)n.
Archaic An ant.
[Middle English pissemyre : pisse, urine (from the smell of the formic acid that ants secrete); see piss + mire, ant (probably of Scandinavian origin; akin to Danish myre).]
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
pismire
(ˈpɪsˌmaɪə)n
(Animals) an archaic or dialect word for an ant
[C14 (literally: urinating ant, from the odour of formic acid characteristic of an ant hill): from piss + obsolete mire ant, of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Norse maurr, Middle Low German mīre ant]
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
pis•mire
(ˈpɪsˌmaɪər, ˈpɪz-)n.
an ant.
[1350–1400; Middle English pissemyre=pisse(n) to urinate + myre ant, perhaps < Scandinavian (compare Dan myre, Swedish myra), c. Dutch mier; from stench of formic acid proper to ants]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.
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| Noun | 1. |  pismire - social insect living in organized colonies; characteristically the males and fertile queen have wings during breeding season; wingless sterile females are the workershymenopter, hymenopteran, hymenopteron, hymenopterous insect - insects having two pairs of membranous wings and an ovipositor specialized for stinging or piercing family Formicidae, Formicidae - ants Monomorium pharaonis, pharaoh ant, pharaoh's ant - small red ant of warm regions; a common household pest little black ant, Monomorium minimum - tiny glossy black ant; nests outdoors but invades houses for food carpenter ant - ant that nests in decaying wood in which it bores tunnels for depositing eggs fire ant - omnivorous ant of tropical and subtropical America that can inflict a painful sting Formica rufa, wood ant - reddish-brown European ant typically living in anthills in woodlands slave ant - any of various ants captured as larvae and enslaved by another species slave-maker, slave-making ant - an ant that attacks colonies of other ant species and carries off the young to be reared as slave ants bulldog ant - any of the large fierce Australian ants of the genus Myrmecia |
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