mosquito
1 Americannoun
PLURAL
mosquitoes, mosquitos-
any of numerous dipterous insects of the family Culicidae, the females of which suck the blood of animals and humans, some species transmitting certain diseases, as malaria and yellow fever.
-
Military. Mosquito, a twin-engined, two-seat British fighter and bomber of World War II, made largely of plywood and having a top speed of 380 miles per hour (610 km/h).
noun
PLURAL
MosquitosPLURAL
Mosquitonoun
"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012Other Word Forms
- mosquitoey adjective
Etymology
Origin of mosquito
First recorded in 1575–85; from Spanish, equivalent to mosc(a) “fly” (from Latin musca ) + -ito diminutive suffix
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Tired of spending frigid winters shoveling snow, or of sweating bullets and swatting mosquitoes in the summer?
From MarketWatch
To catch the minute, translucent fish, fishermen often use mosquito nets in wooden frames.
From Barron's
Malaria is caused by parasites that are spread by mosquitoes.
"This water is now in such a condition that aquatic creatures can live very well in it, whereas earlier, even a mosquito could not thrive in this water," Gupta told reporters.
From Barron's
By exploiting mosquitoes' attraction to flowers, an international team of researchers engineered a new strain of Metarhizium fungus that releases a sweet aroma similar to real blooms.
From Science Daily
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
