kissing bug

noun

Informal.
1. a person much given to kissing.
2. an irresistible desire to kiss or be kissed.
any of several assassin bugs that attack humans, sometimes inflicting painful bites.

kissing bug

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

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An Americanism dating back to 1895–1900

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How does kissing bug compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

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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.

From Ozy

One exception is the group known as kissing bugs, which feed on blood and transmit the parasite that causes Chagas disease in people.

An interesting psychological study was afforded in the summer of 1899, by the "kissing-bug" scare which swept over the country.

As the story went West, bites by Conorhinus sanguisuga and Rasatus thoracicus were without doubt termed "kissing-bug" bites.

Their bites and blood-sucking habits gave cause to the "kissing-bug" scare to which the newspapers gave great publicity.

This kissing bug was just ready to pounce, on you, and poison you, when I grabbed it and killed it.

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