1-Stop Dictionary Reference

Sawfly

Acceptable For Game Play - US & UK word lists

This word is acceptable for play in the US & UK dictionaries that are being used in the following games:

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

n. Any of various hymenopterous insects, chiefly of the family Tenthredinidae, the females of which have sawlike ovipositors used for cutting into plant tissue to deposit their eggs.

Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

n. Any of various flying insects of the suborder Symphyta whose ovipositor is long and often serrated and is used to cut into plants to lay eggs.

the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English

n. Any one of numerous species of hymenopterous insects belonging to the family Tenthredinidæ. The female usually has an ovipositor containing a pair of sawlike organs with which she makes incisions in the leaves or stems of plants in which to lay the eggs. The larvæ resemble those of Lepidoptera.

The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

n. A hymenopterous insect of the family Tenthredinidæ, so called from the peculiar construction of the ovipositor (saw or terebra), with which they cut or pierce plants. Two plates of this instrument have serrate or toothed edges.

n. An American saw-fly, Schizocerus privatus, whose larvæ live on sweet-potato leaves.

WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

n. insect whose female has a saw-like ovipositor for inserting eggs into the leaf or stem tissue of a host plant

Word Usage

"I call a sawfly, 'I said very patiently,' is a red animal, like a daddy-longlegs, but not so big, perhaps an inch long, perhaps less."

Hypernym

Words that are more generic or abstract

hymenopter hymenopteron hymenopteran hymenopterous insect

Cross Reference

sweet-potato saw-fly locust saw-fly currant saw-fly grass saw-fly grapevine saw-fly

Hyponym

birch leaf miner fenusa pusilla