Adjacent Words

Maggot definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

MAG'GOT, n.
1. A worm or grub; particularly, the flyworm, from the egg of the large blue or green fly. This maggot changes into a fly.
2. A whim; an odd fancy.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: the larva of the housefly and blowfly commonly found in decaying organic matter

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English magot, probably alteration of mathek, maddok; akin to Middle Low German m?deke maggot, Old Norse mathkr, Old English matha Date: 14th century 1. a soft-bodied legless grub that is the larva of a dipterous insect (as the housefly) 2. a fantastic or eccentric idea ; whim • maggoty adjective

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a larva, esp. of the cheese-fly or bluebottle. 2 a whimsical fancy. Derivatives: maggoty adj. Etymology: ME perh. alt. f. maddock, earlier mathek f. ON mathkr: cf. MAWKISH

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Maggot Mag"got, n. [W. macai, pl. maceiod, magiod, a worn or grub; cf. magu to bread.] 1. (Zo["o]l.) The footless larva of any fly. See Larval. 2. A whim; an odd fancy. --Hudibras. Tennyson.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(maggots) Maggots are creatures that look like very small worms and turn into flies. N-COUNT

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Grub, worm. 2. Caprice, whim, crotchet, quirk, freak, vagary, humor, fancy, whimsey.

Moby Thesaurus

alabaster, apparition, arachnid, arthropod, aurelia, bee, beetle, boutade, brainchild, brainstorm, bubble, bug, capriccio, caprice, caterpillar, centipede, chalk, chilopod, chimera, chrysalis, cocoon, conceit, crank, craze, crazy idea, crotchet, daddy longlegs, delirium, diplopod, driven snow, eidolon, fad, fancy, fantasque, fantastic notion, fantasy, fiction, figment, fleece, flimflam, flour, fly, foam, fool notion, freak, freakish inspiration, grub, hallucination, harebrained idea, harvestman, hexapod, humor, idle fancy, illusion, imagery, imagination, imagining, insect, insubstantial image, invention, ivory, kink, larva, lily, make-believe, megrim, milk, millepede, millipede, mite, myth, notion, nymph, nympha, paper, passing fancy, pearl, phantasm, phantom, pupa, quirk, romance, scorpion, sheet, sick fancy, silver, snow, spider, swan, tarantula, thick-coming fancies, tick, toy, trip, vagary, vapor, vision, whim, whim-wham, whimsy, wiggler, wildest dreams, wriggler