pismire

[ pis-mahyuhr, piz- ]

/ ˈpɪsˌmaɪər, ˈpɪz- /

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noun

an ant.

QUIZ

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Question 1 of 10

Which of the following words means “to make a crackling sound; crackle”?

crisp

crepitate

fuscous

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Origin of pismire

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

Words nearby pismire

Pisidian, pisiform, pisiform bone, Pisistratidae, Pisistratus, pismire, pismo clam, pisolite, pisolith, piss, piss about

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

How to use pismire in a sentence

As if we should look upon an ant or pismire, the parts fly the sight, and the whole considered is almost nothing.
Discoveries Made Upon Men and Matter|Ben Jonson
At first he said he was a pismire, but the Speaker said pismire was not parliamentary, and he modified it to grasshopper.
Punchinello, Vol. 1, No. 8, May 21, 1870|Various
I've got a thousand-legged worm at the head of a pismire flush, and it serves us right, for a lot of slovens.
Woodcraft and Camping|George Washington Sears (Nessmuk)
Thou art no more than a pismire; why wilt thou seek to provoke the elephants?
The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire|Edward Gibbon

You must understand he is an emmet of quality, and has better blood in his veins than any pismire in the molehill.
Thackerayana|William Makepeace Thackeray

British Dictionary definitions for pismire

pismire

/ (ˈpɪsˌmaɪə) /

noun

an archaic or dialect word for an ant

Word Origin for pismire

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

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