fireflynoun [ C ]
uk/ˈfaɪə.flaɪ/us/ˈfaɪr.flaɪ/an insect that is active during the night and whose tail produces light
Thesaurus: synonyms and related words
Insect names
- anopheles
- ant
- aphid
- beastie
- bedbug
- creepy-crawly
- daddy longlegs
- deathwatch beetle
- dragonfly
- earwig
- insect
- ladybird
- lice
- lightning bug
- locust
- silverfish
- stick insect
- termite
- tortoiseshell butterfly
- tsetse fly
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Examples from literature
- Fireflies and glowworms make light to protect themselves.
- Glowworms make light to scare other animals, and some fireflies make light to show they aren’t good to eat.
- And in the trees there were owls, and in the bushes there were whip-poor-wills, and sometimes a mockingbird, but no other kinds of birds, and at night the fireflies were all about.
- If man could emit light in relative proportion to his size as compared with the firefly, he would need no other torch in the coal-mine.
- Outside innumerable fireflies studded the night with gold.
- The fireflies of the West Indies emit a continuous glow of considerable luminous intensity and the natives have used these imprisoned insects as light-sources.
- The wind was blowing, and there were fireflies, and the dogs were jumping up and down.