Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Insect

In′sect (ĭn′sĕkt), n. [F. insecte, L. insectum, fr. insectus, p. p. of insecare to cut in. See Section. The name was originally given to certain small animals, whose bodies appear cut in, or almost divided. Cf. Entomology.] 1. (Zoöl.) One of the Insecta; esp., one of the Hexapoda. See Insecta.

☞ The hexapod insects pass through three stages during their growth, viz., the larva, pupa, and imago or adult, but in some of the orders the larva differs little from the imago, except in lacking wings, and the active pupa is very much like the larva, except in having rudiments of wings. In the higher orders, the larva is usually a grub, maggot, or caterpillar, totally unlike the adult, while the pupa is very different from both larva and imago and is inactive, taking no food.

2. (Zoöl.) Any air-breathing arthropod, as a spider or scorpion.

3. (Zoöl.) Any small crustacean. In a wider sense, the word is often loosely applied to various small invertebrates.

4. Fig.: Any small, trivial, or contemptible person or thing. Thomson.

Insect powder, a powder used for the extermination of insects; esp., the powdered flowers of certain species of Pyrethrum, a genus now merged in Chrysanthemum. Called also Persian powder.

In′sect (ĭn′sĕkt), a. 1. Of or pertaining to an insect or insects.

2. Like an insect; small; mean; ephemeral.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.