pismire

[pis-mahy^uhr, piz-]

noun

1. an ant.

pismire

/ ˈpɪsˌmaɪə /

noun

1. an archaic or dialect word for an ant

Word History and Origins

Origin of pismire¹

1350–1400; Middle English pissemyre, equivalent to pisse to urinate + obsolete mire ant, perhaps < Scandinavian (compare Danish myre, Swedish myra ), cognate with Dutch mier; pejorative name from stench of formic acid proper to ants

Word History and Origins

Origin of pismire¹

C14 (literally: urinating ant, from the odour of formic acid characteristic of an ant hill): from _piss + obsolete mire ant, of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Norse maurr, Middle Low German mīre ant

Example Sentences

All of us are able to smell ants, for which the great word pismire was originally coined.

From Literature

I never saw her again; that was fate, or...to never see the wanted is that phenomenal blindness; to never have the beauty is pismire.

From Project Gutenberg

Then why do you squirm at the minute catastrophe of a few thousands or150 millions of pismires crushed under the wheels of evolution.

From Project Gutenberg

An ancient name for the ant is “pismire,” probably a Danish word, from paid and myre, signifying such ants as live in hillocks.

From Project Gutenberg

I know her by her waist, So long and thin, And so pinch'd in, Just in the pismire taste.

From Project Gutenberg