earwig
Americannoun
verb (used with object)
noun
verb
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informal to eavesdrop
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archaic (tr) to attempt to influence (a person) by private insinuation
Other Word Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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earwigsimple
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earwigssimple
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have earwiggedperfect
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has earwiggedperfect
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am earwiggingprogressive
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are earwiggingprogressive
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is earwiggingprogressive
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have been earwiggingperfect progressive
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has been earwiggingperfect progressive
Past
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earwiggedsimple
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had earwiggedperfect
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was earwiggingprogressive
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were earwiggingprogressive
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had been earwiggingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of earwig
before 1000; Middle English erwigge, Old English ēarwicga ear insect; from the notion that it enters people's ears. See wiggle
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.
See Examples For:
Amoia also has a 13-inch moth across his throat and chest, a 2.5-inch beetle over his right eye and a 2.5-inch earwig behind his right ear, according to Guinness.
From Fox News ● Feb. 2, 2022
“Monster Hunter” — 80 percent monsters, 20 percent hunter — proves definitively that neither gaping wounds nor a gargantuan armored earwig can stop Milla Jovovich.
From New York Times ● Dec. 17, 2020
I was finally given a radio, but I wasn't shown how to use it, so I had to earwig on someone else who was having a lesson.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 31, 2012
His whole career is an insidious and destructive work of art -- maybe not "termite art," in Manny Farber's oft-misunderstood phrase, but more like earwig art.
From Salon ● Jul. 31, 2010
But then there was Carly, looking down at her like she was an earwig.
From "The Lemonade War" by Jacqueline Davies
They also showed that about 30% of the seeds excreted by woodlice and earwigs remained viable.
From Science Magazine ● May 8, 2024
"Parental care has marked impacts on immunity and microbiome, such as the transfer of core microbes essential for offspring survival as observed in earwigs, burying beetles, African clawed frogs and mice," the authors write.
From Salon ● Sep. 20, 2023
A: Go out with your flashlight at night, and I can almost guarantee you that you’ll find earwigs are the culprits.
From Seattle Times ● Jul. 23, 2022
Other than maybe self-service checkouts, earwigs and people who put their bags on the empty seat on a busy bus.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 26, 2016
‘You is hearing only thumping loud noises with those little earwigs of yours. But I am hearing all the secret whisperings of the world!’
From "The BFG" by Roald Dahl
He was so afraid of appearing to be ruled by a favourite that he would not take good advice, but was easily earwigged by flatterers who played on his weakness for appearing independent.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 5, Slice 8 "Chariot" to "Chatelaine" by Various
“The thought of Piers Morgan and his band of journalists earwigging into my mother’s private and sensitive messages … three months prior to her death in Paris, makes me feel physically sick,” Harry wrote.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 6, 2023
This warm podcast often feels like earwigging on a conversation between two mates, with recent guests including Search Party’s Alia Shawkat, Bad Feminist author Roxane Gay and Drag Race contestant-turned-comedian Trixie Mattel.
From The Guardian ● Jun. 30, 2018
If the tabloids are outraged, well, maybe they shouldn't have been earwigging while the grown-ups were talking.
From The Guardian ● Feb. 19, 2013
I can imagine a young ant getting a severe earwigging from one of the major-domos for its stupidity.
From The Naturalist in Nicaragua by Belt, Thomas
See! he is earwigging Onopa, and the old fool listens to him like a child.
From Osceola the Seminole The Red Fawn of the Flower Land by Reid, Mayne
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.
