midge
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: enpr: mĭj
ipa: /mɪd͡ʒ/
rhymes: -ɪdʒ
Forms: form: midges
head_nr: 1
form: midgie
form: midgy
form: midgey
form: minge
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)
Senses: examples: text: "I am being eaten alive!" cried Pippin. "Midgewater! There are more midges than water!"
ref: 1954, J. R. R. Tolkien, “A Knife in the Dark”, in The Fellowship of the Ring:
text: 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.
ref: 2012 January 24, Douglas Larson, “Runaway Devils Lake”, in American Scientist, volume 100, number 1, archived from the original on 23 May 2012, page 46:
head_nr: 1
glosses: 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.
head_nr: 1
qualifier: now chiefly school slang
glosses: A small, short or insignificant person.
topics: fishing
hobbies
lifestyle
head_nr: 1
glosses: Any bait or lure designed to resemble a midge.
Derived terms: word: antimidge
word: aphid midge
word: apple leaf midge
word: apple midge
word: barley midge
english: Ceratopogonidae
translation: Ceratopogonidae
word: biting midge
english: Scatopsidae
translation: Scatopsidae
word: dung midge
word: frog-biting midge
english: Cecidomyiidae
translation: Cecidomyiidae
word: gall midge
word: mackerel midge
english: Dixidae
translation: Dixidae
word: meniscus midge
word: midge cap
taxonomic: Holcus lanatus
word: midge grass
word: Midge Hall
word: midgeling
word: midge net
word: midgeproof
word: midget
word: midgey
english: Deuterophlebiidae
translation: Deuterophlebiidae
word: mountain midge
word: mugwort
english: Blephariceridae
translation: Blephariceridae
word: net-winged midge
english: Chironomidae
translation: Chironomidae
word: non-biting midge
taxonomic: Contarinia pyrivora
word: pear midge
english: Chaoboridae
translation: Chaoboridae
word: phantom midge
english: Thaumaleidae
translation: Thaumaleidae
word: solitary midge
word: sorghum midge
word: swede midge
word: wheat-midge
word: wheat midge
Related terms: gnat