from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
noun Any of various tiny two-winged flies, especially those that sometimes form swarms.
from The Century Dictionary.
noun A small two-winged fly, Culex pipiens, of the family Culicidæ, suborder Nemocera, and order Diptera, called in America mosquito.
noun Any other insect of the family Culicidæ.—
noun A nemocerous dipterous insect; a midge.
noun A bird: same as knot.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
noun (Zoöl.) A blood-sucking dipterous fly, of the genus Culex, undergoing a metamorphosis in water. The females have a proboscis armed with needlelike organs for penetrating the skin of animals. These are wanting in the males. In America they are generally called mosquitoes. See mosquito.
noun Any fly resembling a Culex in form or habits; esp., in America, a small biting fly of the genus Simulium and allies, as the buffalo gnat, the black fly, etc.
noun (Zoöl.) one of several species of small American singing birds, of the genus Polioptila, allied to the kinglets.
noun the bee flower.
noun (Zoöl.) the European goatsucker; -- called also gnat owl.
noun (Zoöl.) a bird that catches gnats.
noun a person ostentatiously punctilious about trifles. Cf. Matt. xxiii. 24.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
noun Any small insect of the order Diptera, specifically within the suborder Nematocera.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
noun (British usage) mosquito
noun any of various small biting flies: midges; biting midges; black flies; sand flies
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Middle English, from Old English gnæt.]
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Examples
Palin's book, co-written by Nancy French, covers her family and her mom's run for vice president, but focuses on Johnston, whom she calls a "gnat ... constantly spreading false accusations" against her family.
Palin's book, co-written by Nancy French, covers her family and her mom's run for vice president, but focuses on Johnston, whom she calls a "gnat ... constantly spreading false accusations" against her family.
oroboros commented on the word gnat
Tang in reverse.
November 3, 2007
erinmckean commented on the word gnat
according to Tony, "A gnat is inelegant code. It's not quite a bug."
September 30, 2011