alastor

See also: Alastor

English

One of many species of Alastor hunting wasps

Etymology

Ancient Greek ἀλάστωρ (alástōr)

Pronunciation

• Rhymes: -æstə(ɹ)

Noun

alastor (plural alastors)

1. An avenging spirit or deity, variously associated with the Erinyes, Nemesis, and more.
   • 1778 The Dramatick Works of Beaumont and Fletcher Vol. IX. Play: The Fair Maid of the Inn.p.378

     Dog, leave thy snarling, or I'll cut thy tongue out !
     Thou unlick'd bear, dar'st thou yet stand my fury,
     My generous rage? yet? By the sulphureous damps
     That feed the hungry and incessant darkness,
     Which curls around the grim Alastor's back,
     Mutter again, and with one powerful word,
     I'll call an host up from the Stygian lakes,
     Shall waft thee to the Acherontick fens;
     Where, choak'd with mists as black as thy impostures,
     Thou shalt live still a-dying!

2. In more recent ages, a term of rebuke for a pestilent rascal.
   • 1852 James Orton: "Excelsior" or "The Realms of Poesie by Alastor". Private publication printed by William Pickering, London

     James Orton's choice of "Alastor" seems to have been an ironic pen name, suggesting a presumptuous voice.

3. (entomology) A genus of hunting wasp
   • 1895 Walter W. Froggatt On The Nests and Habits of Australian Vespidae and Larridae. Proceedings of the Linnean Society of New South Wales. (second series.) vol. IX 1894. p.27

     Alastor eriurgus. . . A very common "mason wasp" in the neighbourhood of Sydney; very plentiful in February and March.
     They are subject to the attacks of cuckoo wasps and other parasitic Hymenoptera; in one nest I found a small Bracon larva beside the young Alastor, which it soon devoured, and then spun an elongate white silken cocoon, out of which it emerged ten days after; . . . I have bred out several specimens. These inquilines are placed in the Alastor nest while the builders are out hunting for caterpillars, their active mothers being on the watch to crawl in and deposit the eggs in the owner's absence.

Anagrams

• Artolas