maggot
English
Etymology
From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Middle English magot, magotte, probably (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Lua error in Module:parameters at line 95: Parameter 1 should be a valid language code; the value "xno" is not valid. See WT:LOL. alteration of maddock (“worm", "maggot”), originally a diminutive form of a base represented by Old English maþa (Scots mathe), from common (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Germanic *maþô, from the (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Proto-Indo-European root *mat, which was used in insect names, equivalent to made + -ock. Near-cognates include Dutch made, German Made and Swedish mask.
The use of maggot to mean a fanciful or whimsical thing derives from the folk belief that a whimsical or crotchety person had maggots in his or her brain.
Pronunciation
Noun
maggot (plural maggots)
- A soft, legless larva of a fly or other dipterous insect, that often eats decomposing organic matter.
- (derogatory) A worthless person.
- Drop and give me fifty, maggot.
- (obsolete) A whimsy or fancy.
- Mr. Beveridge's Maggot, an old country dance [1].
- 1620, John Fletcher, Women Pleased, III.iv.
- Are you not mad, my friend? What time o' th' moon is't? / Have not you maggots in your brain?
- 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:
- […] If you draw, Sir, there's one prospect up the river, by the mills—upon my conscience—but you don't draw?'
No answer.
'A little, Sir, maybe? Just for a maggot, I'll wager—like my good lady, Mrs. Toole.'
- (slang) A fan of the American metal band Slipknot.
Synonyms
- (soft legless larva): grub
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations
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- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 2-syllable words
- English terms with IPA pronunciation
- English terms with audio links
- English lemmas
- English nouns
- English countable nouns
- English derogatory terms
- English terms with obsolete senses
- English terms with quotations
- English slang
- en:Dipterans