maggot
EnglishEdit
EtymologyEdit
From Middle English magot, magotte, probably Anglo-Norman metathetic alteration of maddock (“worm", "maggot”), originally a diminutive form of a base represented by Old English maþa (Scots mathe), from Frankish *maþō, from common Proto-Germanic *maþô, from the Proto-Indo-European root *mat, which was used in insect names, equivalent to made + -ock. Near-cognates include Dutch made, German Made and Swedish mask.
The use of maggot to mean a fanciful or whimsical thing derives from the folk belief that a whimsical or crotchety person had maggots in their brain.
PronunciationEdit
NounEdit
maggot (plural maggots)
- A soft, legless larva of a fly or other dipterous insect, that often eats decomposing organic matter. [from 15th c.]
- (derogatory) A worthless person. [from 17th c.]
- Drop and give me fifty, maggot.
- 1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 32:
- "Maggot!" said Catweazle angrily. "Sit thee down!"
- (now archaic, regional) A whimsy or fancy. [from 17th c.]
- 1620, John Fletcher, Women Pleased, III.iv:
- Are you not mad, my friend? What time o' th' moon is't? / Have not you maggots in your brain?
- 1778, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin, published 2001, page 100:
- ‘I am ashamed of him! how can he think of humouring you in such maggots!’
- 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:
- […] If you draw, Sir, there's one prospect up the river, by the mills—upon my conscience—but you don't draw?'
No answer.
'A little, Sir, maybe? Just for a maggot, I'll wager—like my good lady, Mrs. Toole.'
- (slang) A fan of the American metal band Slipknot.
SynonymsEdit
- (soft legless larva): grub
Derived termsEdit
Related termsEdit
TranslationsEdit
|
|
- The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
|
VerbEdit
maggot (third-person singular simple present maggots, present participle maggoting, simple past and past participle maggoted)
- (transitive) To rid (an animal) of maggots.
- 1950, Frederick Daniel Smith; Barbara Wilcox, Sold for Two Farthings, page 82:
- In the summer I had to get the sheep penned twice a day to maggot them and I needed a good dog.
AdjectiveEdit
maggot (comparative more maggot, superlative most maggot)
- (colloquial, Australia) Alternative form of maggoted (“drunk; intoxicated”)