body louse
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of body louse
First recorded in 1565–75
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.
A new laboratory study suggests that human body lice are more efficient at transmitting Yersinia pestis, the bacterium that causes plague, than previously thought, supporting the possibility that they may have contributed to past pandemics.
From Science Daily
He was suffering from epidemic typhus, a disease spread through contact with infected body lice.
From BBC
Unlike the body louse, the head louse isn't known to spread disease.
From Salon
Colonies of it live in the digestive systems of body lice and are excreted in their feces.
From Washington Times
While it has long been maintained that the Black Death was spread through fleas from rats, many now believe it was spread through human fleas and body lice.
From Fox News
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.
