Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A nest of ants; an anthill.
from The Century Dictionary.
- Of or pertaining to ants or an ant-hill or community: as, formicary routine.
- noun An ants' nest or ant-hill; the nest or burrow inhabited by a colony of ants. See ant-hill.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) The nest or dwelling of a swarm of ants; an ant-hill.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun An
ant colony , a pile ofearth built byants in which they nest.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a mound of earth made by ants as they dig their nest
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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"So, the famous drug was made from something called formicary foam.
Cachalot Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1980
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From current projections it looks like it is going to be us and a fungus and some air pollinated green silage feedstock by 2250, welcome to the formicary!
Biodiversity: Boundless, priceless – and threatened | Editorial 2011
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I have to say I adore that word “formicary” here – though I think there are critics now who would protests at such a self-consciously literary word.
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An action that obeyed, was directed by, the incredibly gigantic, communistic will which, like the spirit of the hive, the soul of the formicary, animated every unit of them.
The Metal Monster 2004
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Swarming on the extremity of the branches among which the formicary is constructed, the defenders, projecting their terminal segments as far into space as possible, eject formic acid in the direction of the enemy.
Tropic Days 2003
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If they happen to get on the hands or fingers, they submit to be restored to the gate; but go to the formicary on the mango-tree half a dozen yards away and offer a friendly finger, and you will find dozens of pugnacious individuals ready to defend their home.
Tropic Days 2003
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A favourite set target is the bulbous formicary of the white ant which disfigures so many of the trees of the forest.
My Tropic Isle 2003
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Not since the discovery of formicary foam, which could be reduced to produce exene.
Cachalot Foster, Alan Dean, 1946- 1980
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Several queens often exist in one nest, and I have seen workers drag newly fertilized queens into a formicary to enlarge their resources.
Scientific American Supplement No. 822, October 3, 1891 Various
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She is fed and cared for by the workers, and she in turn assists them in the rearing of the young, and has even been known to give her strength for the extension of the formicary grounds.
Scientific American Supplement No. 822, October 3, 1891 Various
yarb commented on the word formicary
Citation on mycelium.
December 5, 2008