kissing bug
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.
Compare Meanings
Click for a side-by-side comparison of meanings. Use the word comparison feature to learn the differences between similar and commonly confused words.
Origin of kissing bug
1Words Nearby kissing bug
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
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.
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-ScienceAn 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 RileyAs 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 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
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
Browse