Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A genus of coleopterous insects having the head separated from the thorax by a neck; the type of the family Cantharidæ.
  • noun [lowercase; pl. cantharides (kan-thar′ i-dēz).] A member of the genus Cantharis.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) A beetle (Lytta vesicatoria, syn. Cantharis vesicatoria), having an elongated cylindrical body of a brilliant green color, and a nauseous odor; the blister fly or blister beetle, of the apothecary; -- also called Spanish fly. Many other species of Lytta, used for the same purpose, take the same name. See Blister beetle, under blister. The plural form in usually applied to the dried insects used in medicine.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Singular form of cantharides.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin cantharis, from Ancient Greek κανθαρίς (kantharis).

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Examples

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  • Do we not have a list of aphrodisiacs?

    January 22, 2016