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white-ant

[hwahyt-ant, wahyt-]
verb (used with object) Australian Informal.
  1. to undermine or subvert from within.
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Origin of white-ant

First recorded in 1915–20

white ant

noun
  1. termite.
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Origin of white ant

First recorded in 1675–85
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for white-ant

Historical Examples of white-ant

  • This stopped him, and Goubasee and myself found him sitting up like a dog, close to a white-ant hill.

    Sport in Abyssinia

    Dermot Mayo

  • In the same spirit his companions speak of their white-ant existence without a shade of complaint.

    War

    Pierre Loti

  • The white-ant hills here rise like castle-towers above the water of the marshes.

    Some Heroes of Travel

    W. H. Davenport Adams

  • In this the animals were surrounded and forced to pass before a white-ant hill on which Burt was posted with the camera.

British Dictionary definitions for white-ant

white ant

noun
  1. another name for termite
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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