Library / English Dictionary

GADFLY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 I. (noun) 

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of various large flies that annoy livestock

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("gadfly" is a kind of...):

fly (two-winged insects characterized by active flight)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "gadfly"):

botfly (stout-bodied hairy dipterous fly whose larvae are parasites on humans and other mammals)

warble fly (hairy bee-like fly whose larvae produce lumpy abscesses (warbles) under the skin of cattle)

cleg; clegg; horse fly; horsefly (large swift fly the female of which sucks blood of various animals)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A persistently annoying person

Synonyms:

blighter; cuss; gadfly; pest; pesterer

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Hypernyms ("gadfly" is a kind of...):

persecutor; tormenter; tormentor (someone who torments)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "gadfly"):

nudnick; nudnik ((Yiddish) someone who is a boring pest)

Credits