MIDGE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does midge mean? 

• MIDGE (noun)
  The noun MIDGE has 1 sense:

1. minute two-winged mosquito-like fly lacking biting mouthparts; appear in dancing swarms especially near water

  Familiarity information: MIDGE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MIDGE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Minute two-winged mosquito-like fly lacking biting mouthparts; appear in dancing swarms especially near water

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

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

gnat (any of various small biting flies: midges; biting midges; black flies; sand flies)

Holonyms ("midge" is a member of...):

Chironomidae; family Chironomidae (midges)

 Context examples 

It is transmitted mechanically by biting flies, mosquitoes, and midges, and iatrogenically through unsterilized equipment.

(Equine Infectious Anemia Virus, NCI Thesaurus)

And the willow-wren summoned everything which flew in the air, not only birds, large and small, but midges, and hornets, bees and flies had to come.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

He would not cross the door-stones of the house, except at night, when he walked just like a ghost about the grounds and in the orchard as if he had lost his senses—which it is my opinion he had; for a more spirited, bolder, keener gentleman than he was before that midge of a governess crossed him, you never saw, ma'am.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)