pismire

[ pis-mahyuh r, piz- ]

/ ˈpɪsˌmaɪər, ˈpɪz- /

noun

an ant.

Nearby words

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

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for pismire

You must understand he is an emmet of quality, and has better blood in his veins than any pismire in the mole-hill.
The Young Gentleman and Lady's Monitor, and English Teacher's Assistant|John Hamilton Moore
An ancient name for the ant is pismire, probably a Danish word, from paid and myre, signifying such ants as live in hillocks.
Folk-lore of Shakespeare|Thomas Firminger Thiselton-Dyer
Observe how the whole swarm divide and make way for the pismire that passes through them!
Thackerayana|William Makepeace Thackeray
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

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

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

Word Origin and History for pismire

pismire

"ant," late 14c. (early 14c. as a surname), from pyss "urine" (said to be in reference to the acrid smell of an anthill) + mire "an ant," probably from Old Norse maurr "ant" (cf. Swedish myra, Danish myre, Middle Dutch miere, Dutch mier, Crimean Gothic miera "ant"), from PIE base *morwi- (see Formica (2)). Cf. pissant, also early Dutch mierseycke (from seycke "urine"), Finnish kusiainen (from kusi "urine").

He is as angry as a pissemyre,
Though þat he haue al that he kan desire.
[Chaucer]

Applied contemptuously to persons from 1560s.