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carpenter ant

noun
  1. a black or brown ant of the genus Camponotus that nests in the wood of decaying or dead trees in which it bores tunnels for depositing its eggs.
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Origin of carpenter ant

First recorded in 1880–85
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for carpenter ant

Historical Examples

  • The carpenter-ant has no moral sense, and is not amenable either to kindness or blows.

    Falling in Love

    Grant Allen

  • Among these are the two large species of carpenter-ant before mentioned, which work in stumps or fallen timber.

  • One kind of carpenter-ant covers its walls with a mixture of sawdust, earth, and spiders' webs.