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wasp |
3 definitions found From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]: 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. From WordNet r 1.6 [wn]: WASP n 1: a White Protestant of Anglo-Saxon ancestry [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 From V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms 13 March 2001 [vera]: WASP Web stAndardS Project (WWW, W3C)
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