lightning bug

See synonyms for lightning bug on Thesaurus.com
noun

Origin of lightning bug

1
An Americanism dating back to 1770–80

Words Nearby lightning bug

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use lightning bug in a sentence

  • In reality it is only the female which is the lightning bug, for the male is not equipped with any lighting power.

  • It was a rare kind, and I almost had one when a mosquito bit me and I had to let the lightning-bug go.

  • I want to get a new specimen of a lightning-bug I noticed in the garden.

  • Long and narrow, it looked like a kalsomined cave illumined by a lightning bug in a bottle when he turned the electric switch.

    The Fighting Shepherdess  | Caroline Lockhart
  • "Nothing doing on the carpenter's bench," he said, flashing the "lightning bug" toward the site of the engine house.

    The Forbidden Trail | Honor Willsie

British Dictionary definitions for lightning bug

lightning bug

noun
  1. US and Canadian another name for the firefly

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012