gallfly

American

[gawl-flahy] / ˈgɔlˌflaɪ /

noun

any of various insects that deposit their eggs in plants, causing the formation of galls.

gallfly British

/ ˈɡɔːlˌflaɪ /

noun

any of several small insects that produce galls in plant tissues, such as the gall wasp and gall midge

"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

Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

gallflies

plural

Etymology

Origin of gallfly

First recorded in 1815–25; gall ³ + fly ¹

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023