ichneumon
Americannoun
-
Also called African mongoose. Also called Egyptian mongoose. a slender, long-tailed mongoose, Herpestes ichneumon, inhabiting Africa and southern Europe, and believed by the ancient Egyptians to devour crocodile eggs.
noun
Etymology
Origin of ichneumon
1565–75; < Latin < Greek ichneúmōn tracker, equivalent to ichneú ( ein ) to track ( see ichno-) + -mōn agent suffix
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.
The ichneumon wasp was a challenge to Darwin’s already diminishing faith.
From The Guardian • Nov. 12, 2016
And though it isn’t a beetle, the elegant pipe cleaner, an ichneumon wasp, looks as if it’s preening for its first portrait as a principal ballet dancer.
From New York Times • Dec. 2, 2013
The girls recovered on cerumen, chaffinch and ichneumon.
From Time Magazine Archive
When he had finished his entry, she said: "You have not mentioned my coming to you, and how we looked for ichneumon flies together."
From Quick Action by Chambers, Robert W. (Robert William)
To-morrow I shall look very hard for an ichneumon fly for you——" "But your discovery will make you famous, Miss Cassillis——" "Why—why, it's for you that I am going to search so hard!
From Quick Action by Chambers, Robert W. (Robert William)
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.
