pismire
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
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
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.
All of us are able to smell ants, for which the great word pismire was originally coined.
From "The Lives of a Cell" by Lewis Thomas
Mark the vanity of the pismire on your left hand.
From The Young Gentleman and Lady's Monitor, and English Teacher's Assistant by Moore, John Hamilton
Truly 'tis said: "For ruin and the deeds preluding change, Fear not great Beasts, nor Eagles when they range: But dread the crawling worm or pismire mean, Satan selects them, for they are unseen."
From Complete Project Gutenberg Works of George Meredith by Meredith, George
Give but my spirit its desired scope, - A giant in a pismire, I not grope; Deny it,—and an ant, with on my back A firmament, the skiey vault will crack.
From Poems by Thompson, Francis
He spoke of himself as a “shrimp of an author,” and expressed the fear that his works might be mistaken for those of “a pismire or a flea.”
From The Art of Letters by Lynd, Robert
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.
