bombylious

English

Etymology

From Latin bombyx (“bumblebee”) + English -ious.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bɒmˈbɪliəs/
• Hyphenation: bom‧byl‧i‧ous

Adjective

bombylious (comparative more bombylious, superlative most bombylious)

1. (obsolete) Buzzing like a bumblebee.
   • 1713, W[illiam] Derham, “[A Survey of the Terraqueous Globe.] Of the Generation of Animals.”, in Physico-Theology: Or, A Demonstration of the Being and Attributes of God, from His Works of Creation. […], London: […] W[illiam] Innys, […], →OCLC, book IV (Of Animals in General), footnote 10, page 249:

     [T]he VVhame or Burrel-fly, vvhich is vexatious to Horſes in Summer, not by ſtinging them, but only by their bombylious Noiſe, or tickling them in laying their Nits, or Eggs on the Hair; […]

Related terms

• bombyx

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “bombylious”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)