pismire
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of pismire
1350–1400; Middle English pissemyre, equivalent to pisse to urinate + obsolete mire ant, perhaps < Scandinavian (compare Danish myre, Swedish myra ), cognate with Dutch mier; pejorative name from stench of formic acid proper to ants
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.
All of us are able to smell ants, for which the great word pismire was originally coined.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
Observe how the whole swarm divide and make way for the pismire that passes through them!
From The Young Gentleman and Lady's Monitor, and English Teacher's Assistant by Moore, John Hamilton
Truly 'tis said: "For ruin and the deeds preluding change, Fear not great Beasts, nor Eagles when they range: But dread the crawling worm or pismire mean, Satan selects them, for they are unseen."
From The Shaving of Shagpat; an Arabian entertainment — Complete by Meredith, George
And it stood up there jest as the Lord meant wimmen to stand, not lookin' like a hour-glass or a pismire, but a good sensible waist on her, jest as human creeters ort to have.
From Samantha at the World's Fair by Grimm, Baron C. de
Yet all this lenity will not overcome their spleen; they will be doing with the pismire, raising a hill a man may spurn abroad with his foot at pleasure.
From Every Man in His Humor by Jonson, Ben
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.
