: any of numerous social or solitary winged hymenopterous insects (especially families Sphecidae and Vespidae) that usually have a slender smooth body with the abdomen attached by a narrow stalk, well-developed wings, biting mouthparts, and in the females and workers an often formidable sting, and that are largely carnivorous and often provision their nests with insects or spiders killed or paralyzed by stinging for their larvae to feed on compare bee
2
: any of various hymenopterous insects (such as a chalcid or ichneumon wasp) other than wasps with larvae that are parasitic on other arthropods
Noun (2)
Most of the members of the club are wealthy WASPs.
The college had been known as a bastion of WASP privilege.
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Noun
When hornets or wasps pollinate and feed, some of this yeast rubs off onto plants and their fruits—playing a key role in the fermentation process.—Rachel Berkowitz, Scientific American, 24 Oct. 2024 Here, his Water Cast 10 is part modernist abstraction, part wasps’ nest, and part Chinese scholar’s rock made by a crew of people pouring molten copper into a combination of clay and water.—Jerry Saltz, Vulture, 11 Dec. 2024 Or, did your friend get a little too curious in the brush and get a splinter or stung by a bee or wasp?—Stack Commerce, Popular Science, 17 Oct. 2024 The larva’s sensory hairs may be able to detect static fields generated by predators such as wasps.—Max G. Levy, WIRED, 27 Oct. 2024 See all Example Sentences for wasp
Word History
Etymology
Noun (1)
Middle English waspe, from Old English wæps, wæsp; akin to Old High German wafsa wasp, Latin vespa wasp
Noun (2)
white Anglo-Saxon Protestant
First Known Use
Noun (1)
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1
: any of numerous winged insects related to the bees and ants that have a slender body with the abdomen attached by a narrow stalk and that in females and workers are usually capable of giving a very painful sting
WASP
2 of 2noun
variants or Wasp
: an American of northern European and Protestant background—sometimes used disparagingly
: any of numerous social or solitary winged insects (especially families Sphecidae and Vespidae) of the order Hymenoptera that usually have a slender smooth body with the abdomen attached by a narrow stalk, well-developed wings, biting mouthparts, and in the females and workers an often formidable sting
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