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dobsonfly

dob·son·fly
D d

Transcription

    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [dob-suh n-flahy]
    • /ˈdɒb sənˌflaɪ/
    • US Pronunciation
    • US IPA
    • [dob-suh n-flahy]
    • /ˈdɒb sənˌflaɪ/

Definitions of dobsonfly word

  • noun plural dobsonfly a large, soft-bodied insect, Corydalus cornutus, having four distinctly veined membranous wings, biting mouthparts, and, in the male, huge mandibles that jut out from the head. 1
  • noun dobsonfly A large gray North American winged insect related to the alderflies. Its predatory aquatic larva (the hellgrammite) is often used as fishing bait. 1
  • noun dobsonfly a large North American neuropterous insect, Corydalis cornutus: the male has elongated horn-like mouthparts and the larva (a hellgrammite or dobson) is used as bait by anglers: suborder Megaloptera 0
  • noun dobsonfly any of a family (Corydalidae) of large neuropteran insects whose larvae live in water: the male, in some species, develops enormous mandibles 0
  • noun dobsonfly An insect of the subfamily Corydalinae whose males have long mandibles, found in the Americas and related most closely to the fishfly. 0

Information block about the term

Origin of dobsonfly

First appearance:

before 1900
One of the 17% newest English words
1900-05; after surname Dobson; see fly2

Historical Comparancy

Parts of speech for Dobsonfly

noun
adjective
verb
adverb
pronoun
preposition
conjunction
determiner
exclamation

dobsonfly popularity

A pretty common term. Usually people know it’s meaning, but prefer to use a more spread out synonym. About 44% of English native speakers know the meaning and use word.
This word is included in each student's vocabulary. Most likely there is at least one movie with this word in the title.

dobsonfly usage trend in Literature

This diagram is provided by Google Ngram Viewer

Top questions with dobsonfly

  • what does a dobsonfly eat?

See also

Matching words

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