dogfly
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 0.00 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
6
Letters
1
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A bloodsucking fly, Stomoxys calcitrans; stablefly.
Example Sentences
- "And behoulding a great multitude of the enemies, he wiſhed them no other harme, but only that ſwarmes of gnats and dogflies might be ſent among them, that feeling the ſtinges of thoſe ſmall creatures, they might acknowledg the power of him that aided the Romanes. When this petition was made vnto God, preſently whole cloudes of gnats and dogflies couered the Perſiã army,[…]."
- "Discussed with Chairman of the Legislative Committee of the Florida Anti-Mosquito Association support of the group for additional funds for the mosquito control program of the State Board of Health and another research laboratory on dogflies."
- "Dogflies were pestering the Pensacola beach trade, and beach crews were mobilized to disinfect the clumps of washed-up seaweed in which the dogflies lived."
Etymology
From Middle English dogflye, dogge flie, equivalent to dog + fly, chiefly after post-classical Latin cynomyia and its etymon Ancient Greek κυνάμυια (kunámuia) (in Hellenistic Greek κυνόμυια (kunómuia)). Compare Old English hundes lūs.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: dogflye