Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A Linnean genus of pseudoneuropterous insects with mandibulate mouth and anal forceps.
- noun [lowercase] Any dragon-fly or libellulid.
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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In ice-filled waters its diet largely comprises Themisto libellula and Apherusa glacialis.
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We were also assailed by an incredible number of flies and other insects, among which was a beautiful species of libellula.
Narrative of a Survey of the Intertropical and Western Coasts of Australia Performed between the years 1818 and 1822 — Volume 1 Phillip Parker King
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"It is a nest of white ants," I said to my son; "they are insects of the neuropteral order, and allied to the _libellula_."
Aventures d'un jeune naturaliste. English Lucien Biart 1863
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A single libellula (dragon-fly) was found in the Stonesfield slate, a member of the lower oolitic group quarried near Oxford; and this was for several years the only specimen known to exist so early; but now many species have been found in a corresponding rock at Solenhofen, in
Vestiges of the Natural History of Creation Robert Chambers 1836
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Thus the libellula, dragon fly: the larva of which hurries amid the water, and is the cruel crocodile of aquatic insects.
Note IV 1803
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The larva lives chiefly in water; it may be driven away by smoke; gnats; libellula; æstros bovis; botts; musca chamæleon; vomitoria.
Contents 1803
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Thus the libellula, dragon fly: the larva of which hurries amid the water, and is the cruel crocodile of aquatic insects.
The Temple of Nature; or, the Origin of Society A Poem, with Philosophical Notes Erasmus Darwin 1766
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Themisto libellula lives in ice-filled waters but is not dependent on sea ice.
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Gammarus wilkitzkii, and Themisto libellula, all of which are associated with sea ice or ice-influenced waters.
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In ice-filled waters its diet largely comprises Themisto libellula and Apherusa glacialis.
mollusque commented on the word libellula
. . . the procession of my Russian and English harlequins, followed by a tiger or two, scarlet-tongued, and a libellula girl on an elephant.
--Vladimir Nabokov, 1974, Look at the Harlequins! p. 228
June 13, 2009