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ant

noun
/ænt/US/ɛənt/

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-West Germanic *āmaitijā Old English ǣmete Middle English ampte English ant From Middle English ampte, amte, emete, amete, from Old English ǣmete (“ant”), from Proto-West Germanic *āmaitijā (literally “biting-thing, cutter”), of uncertain and debated origin (q.v.), but probably from Proto-Germanic *ē- (“off, away”) + *maitaną (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *meh₂y- (“to cut”). Cognate with Scots emmot (“ant”), dialectal Dutch emt, empt (“ant”), German Ameise and Emse (“ant”). See also emmet.

  1. inherited from *meh₂y-✻ — “to cut”
  2. inherited from *ē-✻ — “off, away”
  3. inherited from *āmaitijā✻
  4. inherited from æmete — “ant”
  5. inherited from ampte

Definitions

  1. Any of various insects in the family Formicidae in the order Hymenoptera, typically…

    Any of various insects in the family Formicidae in the order Hymenoptera, typically living in large colonies composed almost entirely of flightless females.

  2. A Web spider.

  3. To rub insects, especially ants, on one's body, perhaps to control parasites or clean…

    To rub insects, especially ants, on one's body, perhaps to control parasites or clean feathers.

    • Wild birds tend to ant and sunbathe most frequently during periods of high humidity, particularly right after heavy or prolonged rainfall in summer.
  4. ›+ 7 more definitions

    1. A diminutive of the male given name Anthony, from Latin.

    2. A river in Norfolk, England, tributary to the Bure.

    3. The 27th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an.

    4. Initialism of Afghanistan National Television.

    5. Initialism of Aids to Navigation Team, as used in the United States Coast Guard.

    6. Abbreviation of actor–network theory.

    7. Acronym of ambiguous nuclear transient.

The neighborhood

Derived

acrobat ant, agricultural ant, Allegheny mound ant, Amazon ant, ant bear, ant-bear, antbear, ant-bed, antbed parrot, antbed parrot moth, ant beetle, antbird, ant-blue, ant cap, ant cattle, ant cow, ant cricket, antdom, anteater, ant-eater, anteating, ant egg, anternet, ant farm, antheap, ant-heap, anthill, ant-hill, ant hill, anthole, anthood, anticide, anting, antish, antkind, antless, antlet, antlike, antling, antlion · +102 more

Vish — recursive loop

A definitional loop anchored at ant. Each word in the ring is defined by the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself. Scroll to it and watch.

01ant02hymenoptera03hymenopteron04insect05exoskeleton06robotic07robot08labour09workers10worker

A definitional loop anchored at ant. Each word in the ring appears in the definition of the next; follow the chain far enough and it folds back on itself.

10 hops · closes at ant

curated · pre-corpus. live cycle detection across the full graph is the next major milestone.

sense glosses and etymology drawn from English Wiktionary · source · CC-BY-SA