Results for ichneumon

Definitions of ichneumon:

part of speech: noun

A small carnivorous animal in Egypt, famed for destroying the crocodile's eggs: an insect which lays its eggs on the larvae of other insects.

part of speech: noun

A weasellike animal found in Asia, Africa, and Spain, which feeds on mice, rats, snakes, and birds.

Usage examples for ichneumon:

• Prick up your ears, you little ichneumon now once more repeat what you are to say in there- do you see where I am pointing with my finger? "The Complete Historical Romances of Georg Ebers", Georg Ebers

• He sent Hephaestion, who was absent about some business, word how while they were fighting for their diversion with an ichneumon Craterus was by chance run through both thighs with Perdiccas's javelin. "Plutarch-Lives-of-the-noble-Grecians-and-Romans", Clough, Arthur Hugh

• Even the tiny egg of a butterfly has its ichneumon parasite, a microscopic wasp, which lays its own egg within the larger one, which ultimately hatches a wasp instead of the baby caterpillar. "My Studio Neighbors", William Hamilton Gibson