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   The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition.  2000.
 
earwig
 
SYLLABICATION:ear·wig
PRONUNCIATION:  îrwg
NOUN: Any of various elongate insects of the order Dermaptera, having a pair of pincerlike appendages protruding from the rear of the abdomen.
TRANSITIVE VERB:Inflected forms: ear·wigged, ear·wig·ging, ear·wigs
To attempt to influence by persistent confidential argument or talk.
ETYMOLOGY:Middle English erwig, from Old English arwicga : are, ear; see ear1 + wicga, insect; see wegh- in Appendix I.
 
 
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Copyright © 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by the Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

CONTENTS · INDEX · ILLUSTRATIONS · BIBLIOGRAPHIC RECORD
  earwax earworm  
 
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