jack jumper

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English

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Noun

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jack jumper (plural jack jumpers)

  1. (Australia) Any of various small species of ant of the genus Myrmecia, often capable of jumping and having a painful sting; a jumper. (Also used attributively.) [from 19th c.]
    • 2004, Nicholas Shakespeare, In Tasmania, Harvill Press, p. 261:
      Glancing back at Hordern's gravestone, I saw that the absent metal letters exposed a pattern of nail holes like woodworm. A jack-jumper ant crawled over his age – he was 63 – and disappeared into the nettles.