ant
/ænt/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms ants anting anted ante ampte
- noun Any of various insects in the family Formicidae in the order Hymenoptera, typically living in large colonies composed almost entirely of flightless females.
- noun (Internet) A Web spider.
- verb (ornithology) To rub insects, especially ants, on one's body, perhaps to control parasites or clean feathers.
- proper noun A diminutive of the male given name Anthony, from Latin.
- proper noun A river in Norfolk, England, tributary to the Bure.
- proper noun The 27th sura (chapter) of the Qur'an.
- proper noun (Internet slang) Anthropic (American artificial intelligence company)
Synonyms
Etymology
From Middle English ampte, amte, amete, amote, ante, emete, emot, emotte, empt, empte, from Old English ǣmete, ǣmette, ǣmytte, ǣmætte (“ant”), from Proto-West Germanic *āmaitijā (“ant”), 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”). See also emmet.
Cognate with Yola emotee, emothee (“ant”), West Frisian eamel, eamelder, eameler (“ant”), Alemannic German Ameisse (“ant”), Bavarian Åmasn, Åmeisn (“ant”), Cimbrian amasa (“ant”), Dutch emt (“ant”), German Ameise, Emse (“ant”), Low German Emk (“ant”), Vilamovian ömys (“ant”), Yiddish אַמייזע (ameyze, “ant”).
Shortening.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A hymenopterous insect of the Linnæan genus Formica, which is now made a family of several genera; an emmet; a pismire.
Etymology [OE. ante, amete, emete, AS. æmete akin to G. ameise. Cf. Emmet.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “ant”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details