insect

Noun

1. An arthropod (in the Insecta class) characterized by six legs, up to four wings, and a chitinous exoskeleton.
   • Our shed has several insect infestations, including ants, yellowjackets, and wasps.
   • Nonetheless, some insect prey take advantage of clutter by hiding in it. Earless ghost swift moths become “invisible” to echolocating bats by forming mating clusters close (less than half a meter) above vegetation and...

   Hypernyms: arthropod bug invertebrate animal creature critter

   Coordinate Terms: arachnid spider

2. Any small, creeping, crawling, or slithering animal, excluding mammals, birds, and fish.
   • Ambroſe Parey has a picture of the ſalamander, with a receipt for her bite; but there is no ſuch creature, the name being now given to a poor harmleſs inſect. - 1756, Samuel Johnson, A Dictionary Of The English...

   1. (specifically) An arthropod or invertebrate.

      • The learned zoologiſt of our country concludes his labours in this ſcience by the preſent publication, which contains only cruſtaceous inſects, viz. crabs and lobſters, worms and ſhells. - 1777, The critical review, or...
      • A slimy slow creeping animal, of the genus Helix, and order of Mollusca. The eyes of this insect are in the horns, one at the end of each, which it can retract at pleasure. - 1832, Noah Webster, A Dictionary of the...
3. A contemptible or powerless person.
   • The manager’s assistant was the worst sort of insect.