1.
[syn: bedbug, bed bug, chinch, Cimex lectularius]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Bedbug \Bed"bug`\, n. (Zool.)
A wingless, bloodsucking, hemipterous insect (Cimex
Lectularius), sometimes infesting houses and especially
beds. See Illustration in Appendix.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Bug \Bug\ (b[u^]g), n. [OE. bugge, fr. W. bwg, bwgan, hobgoblin,
scarecrow, bugbear. Cf. Bogey, Boggle.]
1. A bugbear; anything which terrifies. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
Sir, spare your threats:
The bug which you would fright me with I seek.
--Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. (Zool.) A general name applied to various insects
belonging to the Hemiptera; as, the squash bug; the chinch
bug, etc.
[1913 Webster]
3. (Zool.) An insect of the genus Cimex, especially the
bedbug (Cimex lectularius). See Bedbug.
[1913 Webster]
4. (Zool.) One of various species of Coleoptera; as, the
ladybug; potato bug, etc.; loosely, any beetle.
[1913 Webster]
5. (Zool.) One of certain kinds of Crustacea; as, the sow
bug; pill bug; bait bug; salve bug, etc.
[1913 Webster]
Note: According to popular usage in England and among
housekeepers in America around 1900, bug, when not
joined with some qualifying word, was used specifically
for bedbug. As a general term it is now used very
loosely in America as a colloquial term to mean any
small crawling thing, such as an insect or arachnid,
and was formerly used still more loosely in England.
"God's rare workmanship in the ant, the poorest bug
that creeps." --Rogers (--Naaman). "This bug with
gilded wings." --Pope.
[1913 Webster +PJC]
6. (Computers) An error in the coding of a computer program,
especially one causing the program to malfunction or fail.
See, for example, year 2000 bug. "That's not a bug, it's
a feature!"
[PJC]
7. Any unexpected defect or flaw, such as in a machine or a
plan.
[PJC]
8. A hidden electronic listening device, used to hear or
record conversations surreptitiously.
[PJC]
9. An infectious microorganism; a germ[4]. [Colloq.]
[PJC]
10. An undiagnosed illness, usually mild, believed to be
caused by an infectious organism. [Colloq.]
Note: In some communities in the 1990's, the incidence of
AIDS is high and AIDS is referred to colloquially as
"the bug".
[PJC]
11. An enthusiast; -- used mostly in combination, as a camera
bug. [Colloq.]
[PJC]
Bait bug. See under Bait.
Bug word, swaggering or threatening language. [Obs.]
--Beau. & Fl.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Chinch \Chinch\, n. [Cf. Sp. chinche, fr. L. cimex.]
1. (Zool.) The bedbug (Cimex lectularius).
[1913 Webster]
2. (Zool.) A bug (Blissus leucopterus), which, in the
United States, is very destructive to grass, wheat, and
other grains; -- also called chiniz, chinch bug,
chink bug. It resembles the bedbug in its disgusting
odor.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
Cimex lectularius
n 1: bug of temperate regions that infests especially beds and
feeds on human blood [syn: bedbug, bed bug, chinch,
Cimex lectularius]