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noun

Earwig n.

(Zoöl.) Any insect of the genus Forficula and related genera, belonging to the order Dermaptera (formerly Euplexoptera). They have elongated bodies and a prominent pair of curved pincers at the rear of their abdomen.

(Zoöl.) In America, any small chilopodous myriapod, esp. of the genus Geophilus. See Geophilus Note: Both insects are so called from the supposition that they creep into the human ear.

A whisperer of insinuations; a secret counselor.

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Etymology of 'Earwig'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Earwig" Quotes from Famous Books

... themselves, having neither gum nor web to fasten it with, and yet they will always find one made by others to shelter themselves in. Here were no fewer than six unbeautiful creatures, brothers and sisters, hatched from eggs on which their parent earwig sat incubating just like an eagle or dove or swallow, or, better still, like a pelican; for in the end did she not give of her own life-fluid to nourish her children? Unbeautiful, yet not without a glory superior to that of the Purple Emperor, and the angelic blue Morpho, and the broad-winged ...

— Birds in Town and Village • W. H. Hudson

... Maggie to enjoy the spectacle also, especially as she would doubtless find a name for the toad, and say what had been his past history; for Lucy had a delighted semi-belief in Maggie's stories about the live things they came upon by accident,—how Mrs. Earwig had a wash at home, and one of her children had fallen into the hot copper, for which reason she was running so fast to fetch the doctor. Tom had a profound contempt for this nonsense of Maggie's, smashing the earwig at once as a superfluous yet easy means ...

— Journeys Through Bookland, Vol. 7 • Charles H. Sylvester

... such life, Dugald! My dear cousin, I would rather remain in blissful ignorance of natural history all my life than have even an earwig reposing under my pillow. Besides, I notice ...

— Our Home in the Silver West - A Story of Struggle and Adventure • Gordon Stables

Words linked to "Earwig" : order Dermaptera, insect