pismire
English edit
Etymology edit
From Middle English pissemyre, equivalent to piss + mire (“ant”). So called due to the smell of anthills. Compare English pissant, Old Frisian pisimme, Dutch pismiere, Swedish pissmyra.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
pismire (plural pismires)
- (UK, Ireland, archaic) An ant.
- c. 1597 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The First Part of Henry the Fourth, […]”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii]:
- Why looke you, I am whipt and ſcourg'd with rods,
Netled, and ſtung with piſmires, when I heare
Of this vile polititian, Bullingbrooke,
- 1658, Sir Thomas Browne, The Garden of Cyrus, Folio Society, published 2007, page 189:
- Much there is not of wonder in the confused Houses of Pismires, though much in their busie life and actions […]
- 1993, Anthony Burgess, A Dead Man in Deptford:
- We are scurrying emmets or pismires with our sad little comedies.
Translations edit
ant — see ant
Anagrams edit
Middle English edit
Noun edit
pismire
- Alternative form of pissemyre