Adjacent Words

Spanish fly definitions

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WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: green beetle of southern Europe

Merriam Webster's

noun Date: circa 1634 1. a green blister beetle (Lytta vesicatoria) of southern Europe 2. cantharis 2

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Spanish Span"ish, a. Of or pertaining to Spain or the Spaniards. Spanish bayonet (Bot.), a liliaceous plant (Yucca alorifolia) with rigid spine-tipped leaves. The name is also applied to other similar plants of the Southwestern United States and mexico. Called also Spanish daggers. Spanish bean (Bot.) See the Note under Bean. Spanish black, a black pigment obtained by charring cork. --Ure. Spanish broom (Bot.), a leguminous shrub (Spartium junceum) having many green flexible rushlike twigs. Spanish brown, a species of earth used in painting, having a dark reddish brown color, due to the presence of sesquioxide of iron. Spanish buckeye (Bot.), a small tree (Ungnadia speciosa) of Texas, New Mexico, etc., related to the buckeye, but having pinnate leaves and a three-seeded fruit. Spanish burton (Naut.), a purchase composed of two single blocks. A double Spanish burton has one double and two single blocks. --Luce (Textbook of Seamanship). Spanish chalk (Min.), a kind of steatite; -- so called because obtained from Aragon in Spain. Spanish cress (Bot.), a cruciferous plant (lepidium Cadamines), a species of peppergrass. Spanish curiew (Zo["o]l.), the long-billed curlew. [U.S.] Spanish daggers (Bot.) See Spanish bayonet. Spanish elm (Bot.), a large West Indian tree (Cordia Gerascanthus) furnishing hard and useful timber. Spanish feretto, a rich reddish brown pigment obtained by calcining copper and sulphur together in closed crucibles. Spanish flag (Zo["o]l.), the California rockfish (Sebastichthys rubrivinctus). It is conspicuously colored with bands of red and white. Spanish fly (Zo["o]l.), a brilliant green beetle, common in the south of Europe, used for raising blisters. See Blister beetle under Blister, and Cantharis. Spanish fox (Naut.), a yarn twisted against its lay. Spanish grass. (Bot.) See Esparto. Spanish juice (Bot.), licorice. Spanish leather. See Cordwain. Spanish mackerel. (Zo["o]l.) (a) A species of mackerel (Scomber colias) found both in Europe and America. In America called chub mackerel, big-eyed mackerel, and bull mackerel. (b) In the United States, a handsome mackerel having bright yellow round spots (Scomberomorus maculatus), highly esteemed as a food fish. The name is sometimes erroneously applied to other species. See Illust. under Mackerel. Spanish main, the name formerly given to the southern portion of the Caribbean Sea, together with the contiguous coast, embracing the route traversed by Spanish treasure ships from the New to the Old World. Spanish moss. (Bot.) See Tillandsia. Spanish needles (Bot.), a composite weed (Bidens bipinnata) having achenia armed with needlelike awns. Spanish nut (Bot.), a bulbous plant (Iris Sisyrinchium) of the south of Europe. Spanish potato (Bot.), the sweet potato. See under Potato. Spanish red, an ocherous red pigment resembling Venetian red, but slightly yellower and warmer. --Fairholt. Spanish reef (Naut.), a knot tied in the head of a jib-headed sail. Spanish sheep (Zo["o]l.), a merino. Spanish white, an impalpable powder prepared from chalk by pulverizing and repeated washings, -- used as a white pigment. Spanish windlass (Naut.), a wooden roller, with a rope wound about it, into which a marline spike is thrust to serve as a lever.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Blister Blis"ter, n. [OE.; akin to OD. bluyster, fr. the same root as blast, bladder, blow. See Blow to eject wind.] 1. A vesicle of the skin, containing watery matter or serum, whether occasioned by a burn or other injury, or by a vesicatory; a collection of serous fluid causing a bladderlike elevation of the cuticle. And painful blisters swelled my tender hands. --Grainger. 2. Any elevation made by the separation of the film or skin, as on plants; or by the swelling of the substance at the surface, as on steel. 3. A vesicatory; a plaster of Spanish flies, or other matter, applied to raise a blister. --Dunglison. Blister beetle, a beetle used to raise blisters, esp. the Lytta (or Cantharis) vesicatoria, called Cantharis or Spanish fly by druggists. See Cantharis. Blister fly, a blister beetle. Blister plaster, a plaster designed to raise a blister; -- usually made of Spanish flies. Blister steel, crude steel formed from wrought iron by cementation; -- so called because of its blistered surface. Called also blistered steel. Blood blister. See under Blood.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Cantharis Can"tha*ris, n.; pl. Cantharides. [L., a kind of beetle, esp. the Spanish fly, Gr. kanqari`s.] (Zo["o]l.) A beetle (Lytta, or Cantharis, vesicatoria), havin1g an elongated cylindrical body of a brilliant green color, and a nauseous odor; the blister fly or blister beetle, of the apothecary; -- also called Spanish fly. Many other species of Lytta, used for the same purpose, take the same name. See Blister beetle, under Blister. The plural form in usually applied to the dried insects used in medicine.