midge
noun/mɪd͡ʒ/
Etymology
From Middle English mydge, migge, from Old English mygg, myċġ (“midge, gnat”), from Proto-West Germanic *muggju, from Proto-Germanic *mugjō, from Proto-Indo-European *mū- (“fly, midge”), *mu-, *mew-. The dialectal sense of "short person" was originally figurative, and gave rise to midget (“short person”) via the diminutive suffix -et, which has since become part of standard English with that meaning; this has caused midge to undergo rebracketing as a clipping of midget. Cognates * Scots mige (“midge”) * Saterland Frisian Määge (“gnat, mosquito”) * West Frisian mich (“fly, mosquito”) * West Flemish meezje (“midge, mosquito”) * Dutch mug (“midge, gnat, mosquito”) * German Low German Mügge (“midge, gnat, mosquito”) * German Mücke (“midge, gnat, mosquito”) * Swedish mygg, mygga (“midge, gnat, mosquito”) * Icelandic mý (“midge, gnat, fly”) The Proto-Indo-European root was also the source of * Latin musca * Ancient Greek μυῖα (muîa) * Russian му́ха (múxa) * Latvian muša * Czech muchnička * Albanian mizë * Armenian մուն (mun)
Any of various small two-winged flies, for example, from the family Chironomidae or non-biting midges, the family Chaoboridae or phantom midges, and the family Ceratopogonidae or biting midges, all belonging to the order Diptera.
- "I am being eaten alive!" cried Pippin. "Midgewater! There are more midges than water!"1954, J. R. R. Tolkien, “A Knife in the Dark”, in The Fellowship of the Ring:
- Devils Lake is where I began my career as a limnologist in 1964, studying the lake’s neotenic salamanders and chironomids, or midge flies. […] The Devils Lake Basin is an endorheic, or closed, basin covering about 9,800 square kilometers in northeastern North Dakota.2012 January 23, Douglas Larson, “Runaway Devils Lake”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 23 May 2012, page 46:
Northern England, Scotland A small, short or insignificant person.
Now chiefly school slang
Fishing, Hobbies, Lifestyle Any bait or lure designed to resemble a midge.
- Derived terms
30 terms
antimidge, aphid midge, apple leaf midge, apple midge, barley midge, biting midge, dung midge, frog-biting midge, gall midge, mackerel midge, meniscus midge, midge cap, midge grass, Midge Hall, midgeling, midge net, midgeproof, midget, midgey, mountain midge, mugwort, net-winged midge, non-biting midge, pear midge, phantom midge, solitary midge, sorghum midge, swede midge, wheat-midge, wheat midge- Related terms
- gnat