kissing bug

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noun

Informal.

a person much given to kissing.
an irresistible desire to kiss or be kissed.

any of several assassin bugs that attack humans, sometimes inflicting painful bites.

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In the UK, COTTON CANDY is more commonly known as…

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candyfloss

candypuff

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Origin of kissing bug

An Americanism dating back to 1895–1900

Words nearby kissing bug

kissel, kisser, kiss good-bye, Kissimmee, kissing bridge, kissing bug, kissing cousin, kissing cousins, kissing disease, Kissinger, Kissinger, Henry

How to use kissing bug in a sentence

The kissing bug, a six-legged insect with two sets of wings and an exoskeleton slightly larger than a penny, has a disgusting way of making you sick.
What Is Bugging the Planet?|Stephen Starr|August 31, 2021|Ozy
One exception is the group known as kissing bugs, which feed on blood and transmit the parasite that causes Chagas disease in people.
Feast your eyes on this 50-million-year-old assassin bug and its exquisite genitalia|Kate Baggaley|January 20, 2021|Popular-Science
An interesting psychological study was afforded in the summer of 1899, by the "kissing-bug" scare which swept over the country.
Handbook of Medical Entomology|William Albert Riley
As the story went West, bites by Conorhinus sanguisuga and Rasatus thoracicus were without doubt termed "kissing-bug" bites.
Appletons' Popular Science Monthly, November 1899|Various

Their bites and blood-sucking habits gave cause to the "kissing-bug" scare to which the newspapers gave great publicity.
Great Hike|Alan Douglas
This kissing bug was just ready to pounce, on you, and poison you, when I grabbed it and killed it.
Peck's Uncle Ike and The Red Headed Boy|George W. Peck

British Dictionary definitions for kissing bug

kissing bug

noun

a North American assassin bug, Melanolestes picipes, with a painful bite, usually attacking the lips or cheeks of man

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