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maggot

noun
/ˈmæɡət/

Etymology

From Middle English magot, magat, maked, probably a metathetic alteration of maddock, maðek (“worm", "maggot”), originally a diminutive form of a base represented by Old English maþa (Scots mathe), from Proto-West Germanic *maþō, from Proto-Germanic *maþô, from the Proto-Indo-European root *mat, which was used in insect names, equivalent to made + -ock. Near-cognates include Dutch made, German Made and Swedish mask, Icelandic maðkur (“worm, grub, maggot”). The use of maggot to mean a fanciful or whimsical thing derives from the folk belief that a whimsical or crotchety person had maggots in their brain.

  1. derived from *maþô✻
  2. derived from *maþō✻
  3. inherited from magot

Definitions

  1. A soft, legless larva of a fly or other dipteran insect, that often eats decomposing…

    A soft, legless larva of a fly or other dipteran insect, that often eats decomposing organic matter.

  2. A worthless person.

    • Drop and give me fifty, maggot.
    • "Maggot!" said Catweazle angrily. "Sit thee down!"

  3. A whimsy or fancy.

    • Are you not mad, my friend? What time o' th' moon is't? / Have not you maggots in your brain?
    • ‘I am ashamed of him! how can he think of humouring you in such maggots!’
    • […] If you draw, Sir, there's one prospect up the river, by the mills—upon my conscience—but you don't draw?' No answer. 'A little, Sir, maybe? Just for a maggot, I'll wager—like my good lady, Mrs. Toole.'
  4. ›+ 4 more definitions

    1. A fan of the American metal band Slipknot.

      • (We) We are the new diabolic (We) We are the bitter bucolic If I have to give my life, you can have it (We) We are the pulse of the maggots

    2. Alternative form of MAGAt.

    3. To rid (an animal) of maggots.

      • In the summer I had to get the sheep penned twice a day to maggot them and I needed a good dog.

    4. Alternative form of maggoted (“drunk

      Alternative form of maggoted (“drunk; intoxicated”).

The neighborhood

Derived

act the maggot, antimaggot, apple maggot, demaggot, dog and maggot, fox maggot, gag a maggot, MAGAt, maggot bag, maggot cheese, maggoted, maggotiness, maggoting, maggotish, maggotless, maggotlike, maggotorium, maggot-pated, maggotpated, maggot-pie, maggotry, maggot therapy, maggoty, onion maggot, pea-maggot, rat-tailed maggot, white maggot

Vish — recursive loop

No curated loop yet for maggot. Loops are being traced one word at a time while the ingestion pipeline matures.

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