Adjacent Words

Wasp definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WASP, n. [G., L.] In entomology, a genus of insects, Vespa, of the order of Hymenopters. The mouth is horny, the jaw compressed, without a proboscis; the feelers four, unequal and filiform; the eyes lunated; the body smooth; the sting concealed, and the upper wings plicated. Wasps construct combs, and rear their young in the cells. The sting is painful.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: a white person of Anglo-Saxon ancestry who belongs to a Protestant denomination [syn: WASP, white Anglo-Saxon Protestant]
2: social or solitary hymenopterans typically having a slender body with the abdomen attached by a narrow stalk and having a formidable sting

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Middle English waspe, from Old English wæps, wæsp; akin to Old High German wafsa wasp, Latin vespa wasp Date: before 12th century 1. any of numerous social or solitary winged hymenopterous insects (especially families Sphecidae and Vespidae) that usually have a slender smooth body with the abdomen attached by a narrow stalk, well-developed wings, biting mouthparts, and in the females and workers an often formidable sting, and that are largely carnivorous and often provision their nests with insects or spiders killed or paralyzed by stinging for their larvae to feed on — compare bee 2. any of various hymenopterous insects (as a chalcid or ichneumon wasp) other than wasps with larvae that are parasitic on other arthropods • wasplike adjective

Merriam Webster's

or Wasp noun Usage: often attributive Etymology: white Anglo-Saxon Protestant Date: 1957 sometimes disparaging an American of Northern European and especially British ancestry and of Protestant background; especially a member of the dominant and the most privileged class of people in the United States • Waspdom noun, sometimes disparaging • Waspish adjective, sometimes disparaging • Waspishness noun, sometimes disparaging • Waspy adjective, sometimes disparaging

Merriam Webster's

noun see WASP

Britannica Concise

Any of more than 20,000, usually winged, insect species in the order Hymenoptera. The abdomen is attached to the thorax by a slender petiole, or "waist," and the female's abdomen has a formidable stinger. Most species are solitary; about 1,000 species are highly social; and some may be either social or solitary. Adults feed primarily on nectar. Most solitary wasps nest in tunnels in the ground and feed larvae with paralyzed insects or spiders. The paperlike nest of social wasps (family Vespidae) consists of chewed plant material mixed with saliva and arranged in adjacent hexagonal cells. The female lays one egg in each cell and provisions it with a macerated caterpillar. Successive generations may enlarge the nest and care for the young.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. (also WASP) US usu. derog. a middle-class American White Protestant descended from early European settlers. Derivatives: Waspy adj. (also WASPy). Etymology: White Anglo- Saxon Protestant

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a stinging often flesh-eating insect of the order Hymenoptera, esp. the common social wasp Vespa vulgaris, with black and yellow stripes and a very thin waist. 2 (in comb.) any of various insects resembling a wasp in some way (wasp-beetle). Phrases and idioms: wasp-waist a very slender waist. wasp-waisted having a very slender waist. Derivatives: wasplike adj. Etymology: OE wæfs, wæps, wæsp, f. WG: perh. rel. to WEAVE(1) (from the weblike form of its nest)

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.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(wasps) A wasp is an insect with wings and yellow and black stripes across its body. Wasps have a painful sting like a bee but do not produce honey. N-COUNT

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(WASPs) WASP is used to refer to the people in American society whose ancestors came from northern Europe, especially England, and who are considered to have a lot of power and influence. WASP is an abbreviation for 'White Anglo-Saxon Protestant'. (AM) ...a WASP with a Yale degree. N-COUNT: also N n [disapproval]

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

wosp.

See HORNET.

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

An infected prostitute, who like a wasp carries a sting in her tail.

Moby Thesaurus

American Indian, Amerind, Australian aborigine, Bushman, Caucasian, Indian, Malayan, Mister Charley, Mongolian, Negrillo, Negrito, Negro, Oriental, Red Indian, black, black man, blackfellow, boy, brown man, burrhead, colored person, coon, darky, gook, honky, jigaboo, jungle bunny, nigger, niggra, ofay, paleface, pygmy, red man, redskin, slant-eye, spade, the Man, white, white man, whitey, yellow man