Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various insects of the family Sialidae, having two pairs of dark many-veined wings, long antennae, and aquatic larvae.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A name given by fishermen to a certain neuropterous insect of the family Sialidæ, used as, or imitated for use as, bait: so named because it occurs along alder-lined streams in England.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- Any of numerous dark-colored neuropterous insects of the genus Sialis or allied genera. They have predaceous aquatic larvæ, which are used for bait.
- (Angling) An artificial fly with brown mottled wings, body of peacock harl, and black legs.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A member of any one of the sixty-six species of the Sialidae family of megalopteran insects, each
specimen of which has a body length not exceeding oneinch and possesses longfilamentous antennae and four large dark wings.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun dark-colored insect having predaceous aquatic larvae
- noun dark-colored insect having predaceous aquatic larvae
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
[Probably so called because the mature insects can be found resting on foliage in the moist habitats near lakes and streams where alders typically grow.]
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
alder + fly
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Examples
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