maggot

[ mag-uht ]

noun

1. a soft-bodied, legless larva of certain flies.
2. Archaic. an odd fancy; whim.

maggot

/ ˈmæɡət /

noun

1. the soft limbless larva of dipterous insects, esp the housefly and blowfly, occurring in decaying organic matter
2. rare.
   a fancy or whim

Word History and Origins

Origin of maggot¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of maggot¹

C14: from earlier mathek; related to Old Norse mathkr worm, Old English matha, Old High German mado grub

Example Sentences

What you probably won’t picture is trudging through a landscape littered with feces and rotting corpses — what a world devoid of maggots and dung beetles would look like.

From Science News

The flies’ larvae — or maggots — consume organic wastes, such as feces.

From Science News For Students

Once the maggots have dined on all the poop they can, the insects are boiled.

From Science News For Students

Pundits in Myanmar call Rohingya Muslims beasts, dogs, and maggots.

From Nautilus

But the maggot-infested underside of News of the World is a metaphor for what his whole tabloid operation has wrought.

From The Daily Beast

However strange this maggot may appear in my chest and brain, it is no more than true.

From Project Gutenberg

She's got some maggot in her brain, and she wants to air it.

From Project Gutenberg

And in the economy of nature man is of no more consequence than the maggot.

From Project Gutenberg

In relation to their surroundings man and the maggot are in the same position.

From Project Gutenberg

The whole section is well characterized by the uniformly maggot-like nature of the larva.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• grub
• worm