Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A constellation in the polar region of the Southern Hemisphere near Apus and Carina.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A genus of flies, or two-winged insects, founded by Linnæus in 1763.
  • noun [lowercase] A fly or some similar insect.
  • noun The Fly, a name given to the constellation also called Apis, the Bee.

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

  • proper noun (Zoöl.) A genus of dipterous insects, including the common house fly, and numerous allied species.
  • proper noun (Astron.) A small constellation situated between the Southern Cross and the Pole.
  • proper noun (Med.) Specks or filaments apparently seen moving or gliding about in the field of vision. Their appearance is often a symptom of disease of the eye, or of disorder of the nervous system.

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

  • proper noun astronomy An autumn constellation of the southern sky, said to resemble a fly. It lies between the constellations of Carina and Apus.
  • proper noun A taxonomic genus within the family Muscini — including the housefly.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun type genus of the Muscidae: houseflies
  • noun a small constellation in the polar region of the southern hemisphere near the Southern Cross and Chamaeleon

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From Latin musca, fly.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Named by Dutch explorers Pieter Dirkszoon Keyser and Frederick de Houtman between 1595 and 1597. From Latin musca, a "fly".

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin musca ("fly")

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Examples

  • According to the report, the containers were loaded in Dalian onto the CMA CGM Musca, a large, ocean-going container ship operated by the French shipping line CMA CGM and flying the United Kingdom's flag.

    Pretoria Seized North Korean Weapons Joe Lauria 2010

  • The Musca delivered the containers to Port Klang, one of Malaysia's busiest sea ports.

    Pretoria Seized North Korean Weapons Joe Lauria 2010

  • Behavioral effects of the entomopathogenic fungus Entomophthora muscae on its host Musca domestica: Postural changes in dying hosts and gated patterns of mortality.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • Flight pattern Malpense Musca Domestica, engage, Otto whispered to the tiny hovering disc, and it shot off down the corridor toward the waiting guns.

    The Overload Protocol Mark Walden 2009

  • Behavioral effects of the entomopathogenic fungus Entomophthora muscae on its host Musca domestica: Postural changes in dying hosts and gated patterns of mortality.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • Occasionally Eights injected a droll note: The catfish-and-eel fisherman who kept pulling out turtles; the family that kept wasps in the living room to keep down the fly (Musca) population.

    James Eights 2009

  • Flight pattern Malpense Musca Domestica, engage, Otto whispered to the tiny hovering disc, and it shot off down the corridor toward the waiting guns.

    The Overload Protocol Mark Walden 2009

  • Several species of flies, and in particular Musca domestica, the common housefly, can carry and transmit not only Exotic Newcastle Disease (END) virus, but also the highly infectious and dangerous avian influenza strain, H5N1, according to UK scientist Terry Mabbett, who published his finding in the journal Poultry International.

    David Kirby: Reuters Mangles Flu Story and Blasts "Wild Theories" About "Evil Factory Farms" 2009

  • Behavioral effects of the entomopathogenic fungus Entomophthora muscae on its host Musca domestica: Postural changes in dying hosts and gated patterns of mortality.

    Parasite Rex Carl Zimmer 2009

  • Similarly, the blue-bottle (Musca vomitoria), which instinctively ought to place its eggs in putrified flesh, lays them in the blossom of the Arum dracunculus, because it is misled by the decaying odour of this plant.

    Essays of Schopenhauer 2004

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