kissing bug
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.
QUIZZES
THIS PSAT VOCABULARY QUIZ IS PERFECT PRACTICE FOR THE REAL TEST
In our third teacher-created PSAT practice test there are new and unique vocabulary terms you may have never heard of! Can you guess what they mean?
Question 1 of 10
seclusion
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
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021
Example sentences from the Web for kissing bug
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.
Great Hike|Alan DouglasAn 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
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
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