maggot
Americannoun
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a soft-bodied, legless larva of certain flies.
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Archaic. an odd fancy; whim.
noun
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the soft limbless larva of dipterous insects, esp the housefly and blowfly, occurring in decaying organic matter
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rare a fancy or whim
Etymology
Origin of maggot
1425–75; late Middle English magot, magat, unexplained variant of maddock, Middle English mathek < Old Norse mathkr; akin to Danish maddik maggot, Old English matha, mathu grub, maggot, Old High German mado maggot
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.
While apples face coddling moths and apple maggots, and pear trees struggle with rust and blight, “We haven’t really seen any pests attacking plums,” Nguyen says.
From Seattle Times
Garden pests are often highly specialized and named after their favorite food: cabbageworm, corn earworm, tomato hornworm, Colorado potato beetle, cucumber beetle, pea weevil, pepper maggot, Mexican bean beetle, and so on.
From Salon
In the mud, teeming with maggots, is the rotting carcass of a wild boar.
From Washington Post
When she removed a plastic sheet and trash bag, the officer noticed maggots in the bag and told her to remove the blankets inside the bag, which revealed a suitcase.
From Fox News
“I myself, the other day — let me apologize on this program. I was trying to be cute and clever when I was talking about MAGA, therefore ‘MAGAts,’ not ‘maggots.’
From Washington Times
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.
