maggot
Americannoun
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a soft-bodied, legless larva of certain flies.
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Archaic. an odd fancy; whim.
noun
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the soft limbless larva of dipterous insects, esp the housefly and blowfly, occurring in decaying organic matter
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rare a fancy or whim
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of maggot
1425–75; late Middle English magot, magat, unexplained variant of maddock, Middle English mathek < Old Norse mathkr; akin to Danish maddik maggot, Old English matha, mathu grub, maggot, Old High German mado maggot
Explanation
A maggot is a small, wormlike fly larva. Maggots are sometimes found in garbage, compost piles, or other places where they can feed on decaying plants and organic matter. Yum. The nicest way to think of a maggot is as a baby fly — when maggots grow up, that's just what they become. Because maggot isn't a strictly scientific term, its definition can be vague, sometimes meaning "grub" and other times, "larva" in general. Maggots are usually found in a large, wriggling group, and can be harmful to farm animals with cuts or sores, as they can infest their skin.
Vocabulary lists containing maggot
Seedfolks
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The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian
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"The Tragedy of Macbeth," Vocabulary from Act 3
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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.
His electric guitar playing featured much more heavily on the album, giving it a more rocky sound - and earning comparisons to Funkadelic’s influential 1971 album, Maggot Brain.
From BBC • Oct. 15, 2025
And that makes a difference on big, cinematic songs like the title track of Funkadelic’s Maggot Brain.
From The Verge • Jul. 11, 2016
Maggot Moon's 15-year-old dyslexic hero is written off by teachers and bullied by classmates.
From The Guardian • Dec. 28, 2012
They come in rich color, some serene and some disturbing, from the antifreeze green of the Splattered Shag’s beak to the primitive red and black of the Angered Maggot Sleet.
From New York Times • Oct. 1, 2012
It no longer surprised them; but he made no secret that he owed his recent knowledge largely to Farmer Maggot, whom he seemed to regard as a person of more importance than they had imagined.
From "The Fellowship of the Ring" by J.R.R. Tolkien
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.
