Gadfly

Gad"fly`

(gd"fl`), n.;

pl. Gadflies (#).

[Gad + fly.] (Zol.) Any dipterous insect of the genus Oestrus, and allied genera of botflies.
[1913 Webster]

The sheep gadfly (Oestrus ovis) deposits its young in the nostrils of sheep, and the larv develop in the frontal sinuses. The common species which infests cattle (Hypoderma bovis) deposits its eggs upon or in the skin where the larv or bots live and produce sores called wormels. The gadflies of the horse produce the intestinal parasites called bots. See Botfly, and Bots. The true horseflies are often erroneously called gadflies, and the true gadflies are sometimes incorrectly called breeze flies.
[1913 Webster]

Gadfly petrel (Zol.), one of several small petrels of the genus Oestrelata.
[1913 Webster]

New - Add Dictionary Search to Your Site

You can add a free dictionary search box to your own web site by copying and pasting the following HTML into one of your web pages:

<form action="http://www.freedict.co.uk/search.php" method="post">
 <p style="text-align: center; font-family: sans-serif;">
  <a style="font-weight: bold;" href="http://www.freedict.co.uk/"
     title="FreeDict free online dictionary">FreeDict</a>
  <input type="text" name="word" size="20" value="" />
  <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Search Dictionary" />
 </p>
</form>

a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z

Wed 15th October 2008