merrywingn.1
/ˈmɛrɪwɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈmɛriˌwɪŋ/, Caribbean English /ˈmɛriˌwɪŋ/ Caribbean.
A biting midge, gnat, or mosquito found in the Caribbean, esp. in Jamaica and Barbados.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Diptera or flies > [noun] > suborder Nematocera > family Culicidae > member of (gnat or mosquito) > of West Indies
merrywing1657
1657 R. Ligon True Hist. Barbados 62 And next to them [sc. Musketos] Meriwings, and they are of so small a sise..as you can hardly discern them, but by the noise of their wings..: Where they sting, there will rise a little knob, as big as a pease.
1670 J. Ogilby America ii. xvi. 340 In some parts of the Countrey [in Jamaica] there are also a sort of stinging Flies, call'd Muschilli and Merrywings.
1683 Present State Jamaica 20 Divers sorts of Flies, called Mery-wings, from their Noise; Mutquettoes, from their Littleness; Gallinippors, from their Biting.
1706 Phillips's New World of Words (new ed.) Merry-wings, a sort of Fly, very troublesome in the Night, in the Island of Barbadoes.
1750 G. Hughes Nat. Hist. Barbados 87 The Merry-Wing..is a very minute Fly... They seem to be exactly of the same Species with the Gnat in England.
1839 Jamaica Almanack 38 The Lady and Gentleman Merrywings (Maringouin) as the Windward Islanders call the Gnat.
1961 F. G. Cassidy Jamaica Talk xiii. 291 Their [sc. mosquitoes'] earliest name was merrywings... The word has long been out of use in Jamaica, but still means a midge in Barbados.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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