Adjacent Words

digger wasp definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: solitary wasp that digs nests in the soil and stocks them with paralyzed insects for the larvae

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: 1880 a burrowing wasp; especially any of numerous usually solitary wasps (superfamily Sphecoidea) that dig nest burrows in the soil and provision them with insects or spiders paralyzed by stinging

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wasp Wasp, n. [OE. waspe, AS. w[ae]ps, w[ae]fs; akin to D. wesp, G. wespe, OHG. wafsa, wefsa, Lith. vapsa gadfly, Russ. osa wasp, L. vespa, and perhaps to E. weave.] (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of stinging hymenopterous insects, esp. any of the numerous species of the genus Vespa, which includes the true, or social, wasps, some of which are called yellow jackets. Note: The social wasps make a complex series of combs, of a substance like stiff paper, often of large size, and protect them by a paperlike covering. The larv[ae] are reared in the cells of the combs, and eat insects and insect larv[ae] brought to them by the adults, but the latter feed mainly on the honey and pollen of flowers, and on the sweet juices of fruit. See Illust. in Appendix. Digger wasp, any one of numerous species of solitary wasps that make their nests in burrows which they dig in the ground, as the sand wasps. See Sand wasp, under Sand. Mud wasp. See under Mud. Potter wasp. See under Potter. Wasp fly, a species of fly resembling a wasp, but without a sting.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Digger Dig"ger, n. One who, or that which, digs. Digger wasp (Zo["o]l.), any one of the fossorial Hymenoptera.