bot
/bɑt/
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: 3.82 in modern English
5
Scrabble Score
3
Letters
1
Syllables
3
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
The larva of a botfly, which infests the skin of various mammals, producing warbles, or the nasal passage of sheep, or the stomach of horses.
verb
To ask for and be given something with the direct intention of exploiting the thing’s usefulness, almost exclusively with cigarettes.
Australian usage; Informal
noun
A piece of software designed to perform a task (often a minor but repetitive one) automatically or on command, especially when operating with the appearance of a (human) user profile or account.
noun
A computer-controlled character in a video game, especially a multiplayer one.
Example Sentences
- "Peas and beans are as dank here as a dog, and that is the next way to give poor jades the bots."
- "One deer, later found to be heavily parasitized by bots, suffered severe vomiting attacks during the early spring."
- "Jerry prepared a glass jar with sterilized sand to act as a nursery for his pulsating bot, but despite his tender ministrations the larva dried out and died before it could encase itself in a pupal sheath."
- "Can I bot a smoke?"
- "Jonny always bots off me. I just wish he’d get his own pack."
- "I stared at the bot and recognized her for the first time. She was me."
Etymology
Unknown. Possibly a modification of Scottish Gaelic boiteag (“maggot”), but the word already existed in Middle English, so the reverse direction of borrowing is likely. Possibly from Middle Low German [Term?].
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: boiteag, -
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /bɑt/
- British English: /bɒt/
Usage
- British usage
- Slang
- Australian usage
- Informal
- Derogatory