daddy-long-legsn.
/ˌdadɪˈlɒŋlɛɡz/, U.S. /ˌdædiˈlɔŋˌlɛɡz/, /ˌdædiˈlɑŋˌlɛɡz/ 1. Chiefly North American. A harvestman (order Opiliones), which has a small rounded body and very long thin legs.Cf. father-long-legs n. 2, granddaddy-long-legs n. at granddaddy n. Compounds.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Arachnida > [noun] > division Pseudoarachnida > order Opiliones > family Phalangidae or genus Phalangium > member of
shepherd1608
carter spider1665
shepherd spider1665
spider1665
shepherd's spider1688
father-long-legs1746
granddaddy1808
daddy-long-legs1818
harvestman1830
grandfather-long-legs1833
phalangian1835
phalangidan1835
harvest-spider1852
granddaddy-long-legs1858
phalangid1869
phalange1876
opilionid1900
1818 Nicholson's Brit. Encycl. (Amer. ed.) IX. at Phalangium To this genus belong the well-known insects, called daddy long legs, shepherd or harvest spiders.
1865 F. Cowan Curious Facts Hist. Insects 321 A superstition obtains among our cow-boys that if a cow be lost, its whereabouts may be learned by inquiring of the Daddy-Long-legs (Phalangium), which points out the direction of the lost animal with one of its fore legs.
1901 M. C. Dickerson Moths & Butterflies iii. 279 The group to which the spiders belong includes the scorpions, the harvestmen or ‘daddy-long-legs’, and other forms less common.
1971 C. Johansen in R. E. Pfadt Fund. Appl. Entomol. (ed. 2) iv. 91 Phalangida are the daddy longlegs.
2006 J. T. Costa Other Insect Societies xx. 679 Tropical species [of harvestmen] often little resemble the delicate, gossamer-legged daddy longlegs so familiar to temperate zone observers.
2. Chiefly British. A crane fly (family Tipulidae), esp. a large one of the genus Tipula.Cf. father-long-legs n. 1, harry-long-legs n. at Harry n.2 Compounds 1a.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Diptera or flies > [noun] > suborder Nematocera > family Tipulidae > member of (crane-fly)
crane-fly1658
harry-long-legs1676
tailor1682
long legs1721
father-long-legs1742
Tipula1752
tommy-long-legs1800
Tom Tailor1800
meadow crane fly1813
jenny-spinner1817
daddy-long-legs1829
spinner-fly1848
granddaddy-long-legs1858
tipulid1893
1829 J. F. Stephens Syst. Catal. Brit. Insects 247 Tipula Auctorum... Daddy Long-legs: ‘Harry Long-legs or Taylor Fly’. Albin.
1840 J. O. Westwood in E. Blyth et al. Cuvier's Animal Kingdom 619 These insects are well known under the names of Daddy long-legs, Tailors, &c.
1884 F. J. Lloyd Sci. Agric. 279 Next to the wireworm the crane fly or daddy-longlegs..is probably most hurtful.
a1933 J. A. Thomson Biol. for Everyman (1934) I. xiii. 246 The thoracic limbs show great diversity of form, as we see when we contrast a daddy-long-legs with a mole-cricket.
1966 J. Sankey Chalkland Ecol. iv. 99 Daddy-long-legs—Tipulidae—are common in some years. Their larvae, called leather-jackets, feed on the roots of grasses.
2000 H. Stevenson Instr. for Visitors (2002) 105 I lay there..watching daddy-long-legs lollop across the grubby ceiling.
3. The cellar spider, Pholcus phalangioides, which has a small body and very long thin legs. Also more fully daddy-long-legs spider.
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1887 Jrnl. Hort., Cottage Gardener & Home Farmer 21 Apr. 316/1 The spindly Pholcus, often called Daddy Longlegs, perambulates over vineries sometimes, and may be let alone.
1898 Rep. Trustees Austral. Mus. 1897 24/2 (table) Spider (Daddy Long Legs)—Pholcus phalangoides.
1922 Jrnl. Bot. Soc. S. Afr. 8 17/2 The common ‘daddy-long-legs’ (Pholcus phalangioides) carries her sack of eggs about with her if she is disturbed.
1966 Animals (London) 11 Jan. 166/2 (caption) The daddy-long-legs spider, Pholcus phalangoides, photographed in a ceiling corner.
2009 Independent 26 Sept. 3/3 More familiar spiders Mr Shardlow has been watching include the garden cross spider..and the daddy-long-legs spider.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2016; most recently modified version published online June 2022).
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n.1818