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cimex

[sahy-meks]
noun, plural cim·i·ces [sim-uh-seez] /ˈsɪm əˌsiz/.
  1. a bedbug of the genus Cimex.
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Origin of cimex

1575–85; < New Latin, Latin cīmex bedbug
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for cimex

Historical Examples of cimex

  • It has the same habits and practically the same life cycle as Cimex lectularius.

    Handbook of Medical Entomology

    William Albert Riley

  • But the resources of one-and-twenty are not easily daunted, even by the presence of the cimex lectularius or the pulex irritans.

  • In fact, in general outline they are strikingly like that bte noire of all good housekeepers—the Cimex lectularius.

  • The former dedicated a fine species of Cimex to Drury, figured in the first volume of these Illustrations, pl.

  • The physiology and activity of the bedbug (Cimex lectularius L.) in a natural infestation.

British Dictionary definitions for cimex

cimex

noun plural cimices (ˈsɪmɪˌsiːz)
  1. any of the heteropterous insects of the genus Cimex, esp the bedbug
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Word Origin for cimex

C16: from Latin: bug
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

Word Origin and History for cimex

n.

Latin, "bug, bedbug," also a term of reproach, of uncertain origin. Related: Cimiceous "buggy;" cimicine "smelling of bugs."

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper