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noun

Ant n. (Zool.) A hymenopterous insect of the Linnaean genus Formica, which is now made a family of several genera; an emmet; a pismire. Note: Among ants, as among bees, there are neuter or working ants, besides the males and females; the former are without wings. Ants live together in swarms, usually raising hillocks of earth, variously chambered within, where they maintain a perfect system of order, store their provisions, and nurture their young. There are many species, with diverse habits, as agricultural ants, carpenter ants, honey ants, foraging ants, amazon ants, etc. The white ants or Termites belong to the Neuroptera.

Ant bird (Zool.), one of a very extensive group of South American birds (Formicariidae), which live on ants. The family includes many species, some of which are called ant shrikes, ant thrushes, and ant wrens.

Ant rice (Bot.), a species of grass (Aristida oligantha) cultivated by the agricultural ants of Texas for the sake of its seed.

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Etymology of 'Ant'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Ant" Quotes from Famous Books

... to mind several elderly women of her acquaintance, pensioners of her own group, who still wore its livery, struck its attitudes and chattered its jargon, but had long since been ruthlessly relegated to these slave-ant offices. Never in the world would she join ...

— The Glimpses of the Moon • Edith Wharton

... "Ant tit she ever sail a poat in the lochs in Lonton?" asked Long Shon, as the boat sped away rapidly, with the ...

— Three Boys - or the Chiefs of the Clan Mackhai • George Manville Fenn

... with it, and shuffle along the ground toward them, scolding all the while in a harsh voice. I feared at first that they might kill him, but I soon found that he was able to take care of himself. I would turn over stones and dig into ant-hills for him, and he would lick up the ants so fast that a stream of them seemed going into his mouth unceasingly. I kept him till late in the fall, when he disappeared, probably going south, and I ...

— Birds and Bees, Sharp Eyes and, Other Papers • John Burroughs

... Boar Inn was stirring like an ant-hill, with firefly lanterns flitting up and down, and a cheery glow about the open door. The horses of the company, scrubbed unreasonably clean, snorted and stamped in little bridled clumps about the courtyard, and ...

— Master Skylark • John Bennett

... own up. The occasion was obscure, insignificant—what you will: a lost youngster, one in a million—but then he was one of us; an incident as completely devoid of importance as the flooding of an ant-heap, and yet the mystery of his attitude got hold of me as though he had been an individual in the forefront of his kind, as if the obscure truth involved were momentous enough to affect mankind's conception of itself. . ...

— Lord Jim • Joseph Conrad

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