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Fine Dictionary

midge

mɪʤ
WordNet
Sheet with twelve midges and crane flies and a wasp-like insect, numbered 1-13. Numbered top right: 3. Part of the sixth album with drawings of fish, shells and insects. Sixth of twelve albums with drawings of animals, birds and plants known around 1600, commissioned by Emperor Rudolf II. With explanation in Dutch, Latin and French.
Sheet with twelve midges and crane flies and a wasp-like insect, numbered 1-13. Numbered top right: 3. Part of the sixth album with drawings of fish, shells and insects. Sixth of twelve albums with drawings of animals, birds and plants known around 1600, commissioned by Emperor Rudolf II. With explanation in Dutch, Latin and French.
  1. (n) midge
    minute two-winged mosquito-like fly lacking biting mouthparts; appear in dancing swarms especially near water
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary
  1. Midge
    A very small fly, abundant in many parts of the United States and Canada, noted for the irritating quality of its bite.
  2. Midge
    Any one of many small, delicate, long-legged flies of the Chironomus, and allied genera, which do not bite. Their larvæ are usually aquatic.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
  1. (n) midge
    A two-winged fly of the order Diptera and suborder Nemocera; a gnat or some insect resembling one: a popular name applied with little discrimination to many different insects. They chiefly belong to the families Simuliidæ, Tipudidæ, Chironomidæ, and Culicidæ. The term is sometimes specifically applied to the Chironomidæ. The eggs of some of the last-named family, like those of mosquitos and other gnats, are deposited in water, where they undergo metamorphosis, first into larvæ and then into pupæ, in which latter slate when ripe they rise to the surface, and the imago or perfect insect emerges. See gnat.
  2. (n) midge
    Something small of its kind, as the fry of fish; a dwarf; a midget. A very small fish, specifically called Günther's midge and Hypsiptera argentea, occasionally taken on both the American and European coasts, is supposed to be the fry of a codling of the genus Phycis.
  3. (n) midge
    A very small one-horse carriage used in the Isle of Wight, England.
Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary
  1. (n) Midge
    mij the common name of several species of small two-winged insects, like gnats, but with a shorter proboscis
Etymology

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary OE. migge, AS. mycge,; akin to OS. muggia, D. mug, G. mücke, OHG. mucca, Icel. m, Sw. mygga, mygg, Dan. myg,; perh. named from its buzzing; cf. Gr. to low, bellow

Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary A.S. micge; Ger. mücke, a gnat.

Usage in the news

Editor and author Midge Raymond offers tips on writing … and submitting, researching, editing, networking, marketing, and everything else. blog.seattlepi.com

Cleora " Midge " Slater, age 81, of Storm Lake, died Sunday, May 30, 2010 at Lake Pointe Villa in Storm Lake. stormlakepilottribune.com

Former Rep Midge Miller dies at 86. jsonline.com

Former state Rep Midge Miller (D-Madison), a pioneering Wisconsin feminist and anti-Vietnam war activist, died today at 86. jsonline.com

Mildred " Midge " Davis, 95, died at 3:55 pm Jan 24, 2009, at the Chaffee Nursing Center. standard-democrat.com

Her mother spent long hours in the store so Midge 's sister, Alma, who was ten years older, was her care giver. sjrnews.com

Martin Humphreys and 12-year-old Midge are regularly spotted racing each other in the village of Wrose, in Shipley, West Yorkshire. ohio.com

POPISH , Mildred Ann "Midge," 85, of Weirton, died Monday September 10, 2012, at the Valley Hospice Care Center North, Steubenville, OH. hsconnect.com

Born on September 16, 1926 in West Frankfort, IL, Midge was the daughter of the late John and Ann Klash Douglas. hsconnect.com

POPISH , Mildred "Midge" of Weirton, passed away Monday, September 10, 2012. eirtondailytimes.com

Officials with the South Dakota Game, Fish & Parks Department say at least 3,400 deer have died this year from a midge-borne virus. keloland.com

Created on Thursday, 22 November 2012 01:00 Written by Kayse Jama, Midge Purcell and Joseph Santos-Lyons. portlandtribune.com

MOUNDVILLE, MO — Ethel Yvonne "Midge" Barnes, 90, a former Nevada State Hospital employee, passed away Wednesday, Dec 5, 2012. joplinglobe.com

Midge Wilson, founder and executive director of the Bay Area Women's & Children's Center, said three groups of Twitter employees came to the school recently to volunteer about 90 minutes of their time helping out. sfgate.com

Marguerite (Midge) Smith, 90, died Sept 1, 2012 in Virginia Beach, Va. A former Silver Creek and Stuart, Fla. Resident, she was predeceased by her husband of 69 years Dana and daughter Lola. observertoday.com

Usage in literature

The table-cloth would be laid in that part of the wood where the midges were least troublesome. "Red Rose and Tiger Lily" by L. T. Meade

So, the hot sun beat down upon him until evening drew on apace, and then the midges came out. "Freaks on the Fells" by R.M. Ballantyne

Of course, you needn't go if you don't want to, Midge. "Marjorie's Busy Days" by Carolyn Wells

Midge, although he keenly felt the ill-treatment he received, did not resent it. "Owen Hartley; or, Ups and Downs" by William H. G. Kingston

The midge would know nothing of the reality of the man which lay hidden behind the appearance. "The Heart of Nature" by Francis Younghusband

When Saturday night came they were laid in their usual place on Midge's arm. "Aunt Jo's Scrap-Bag VI" by Louisa M. Alcott

Can these be the sowing of a bandit, the spawn of a Midge? "The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles" by Jean Henri Fabre

It was growing cool and the fire was not unwelcome, but by and by a gentle wind began to blow and kept away the midges. "Betty Leicester" by Sarah Orne Jewett

The sun shone beautifully, and the mosquitoes and midges bit right and left with hungry determination. "Gipsy Life being an account of our Gipsies and their children" by George Smith

Much asked that he might join with them and bring his friend Midge and a few other merry souls. "Robin Hood" by Paul Creswick

Usage in poetry
Yea, and the midge's hymn
Answers the seraphim
Athwart
Thy body's court!
I had hoped to build a rainbow bridge
Marrying the soil to the sky
And sow in this dancing planet midge
The moods of infinity.
There was Roger the monk, that used to make
All monkery his glee;
And Midge, on whom Robin had never turned
His face but tenderly;
As during summer midges swarm
To beat their wings against a flame
Out in the yard the snowflakes swarmed
To beat against the window pane
December, all thy aspects have their charm;
The sky o'ercast, the sweeping rack, the calm
And cloudless day, when reeling midges warp
In sunny nook ; yea, even the raving storm.
The birds their dear voices are turning all to song,
The calves are bleating aloud for their mother's side,
The fish are leaping high where the midges throng--
And I alone with young Cormac here must abide!