insect

Noun

insect (plural insects)

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 effectively blending into the clutter of echoes that the bat receives from the...2013 May-June, William E. Conner, “An Acoustic Arms Race”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 3, pages 206–7
2. (archaic, broadly) 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 Language: In Which The Words are Deduced from Their Originals, And Illustrated in Their Different Significations By Examples from the Best Writers...
   1. (archaic, broadly, 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 annals of literature, Volume 44, page 158
      • 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 English Language: Intended to Exhibit: I. The Origin and the Affinities of Every English Word ... II. The Orthography and the Pronunciation of Words ... III....
3. (derogatory) A contemptible or powerless person.
   • The manager’s assistant was the worst sort of insect.