muscifuge

English

Etymology

From Latin musca (“fly”) + fugere (“to cause to flee”), compare medieval Latin muscifugium, a fly fan.

Noun

muscifuge (plural muscifuges)

1. (rare) Something which repels or kills flies, typically a plant; a fly repellent. Also spelled "muscafuge" (1844) by Henry Stephens, who claimed to have coined it.
   • 1882, anonymous, The Pharmacist and Chemist, Volumes 15-16, C.E. Southard, page 228:

     Pharmacists who are plagued with flies in hot weather will be glad to learn that, according to the Moniteur des Produits Chimiques, the Ricinus sanguinis, a common ornamental foliage plant and own brother to the Ricinus communis, is an effectual muscifuge.

   • 1897, anonymous author, The Dublin Journal of Medical Science, volume 103, Fannin & Company, page 186:

     A Muscifuge... the sweet odour emanated seems very offensive to the ordinary house fly.