maggot
English
editEtymology
editFrom Middle English magot, magotte, probably Anglo-Norman metathetic alteration of maddock (“worm", "maggot”), originally a diminutive form of a base represented by Old English maþa (Scots mathe), from Frankish *maþō, from common Proto-Germanic *maþô, from the Proto-Indo-European root *mat, which was used in insect names, equivalent to made + -ock. Near-cognates include Dutch made, German Made and Swedish mask.
The use of maggot to mean a fanciful or whimsical thing derives from the folk belief that a whimsical or crotchety person had maggots in their brain.
Pronunciation
editNoun
editmaggot (plural maggots)
- A soft, legless larva of a fly or other dipterous insect, that often eats decomposing organic matter. [from 15th c.]
- (derogatory) A worthless person. [from 17th c.]
- Drop and give me fifty, maggot.
- 1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 32:
- "Maggot!" said Catweazle angrily. "Sit thee down!"
- (now archaic, regional) A whimsy or fancy. [from 17th c.]
- 1620, John Fletcher, Women Pleased, III.iv:
- Are you not mad, my friend? What time o' th' moon is't? / Have not you maggots in your brain?
- 1778, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin, published 2001, page 100:
- ‘I am ashamed of him! how can he think of humouring you in such maggots!’
- 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:
- […] If you draw, Sir, there's one prospect up the river, by the mills—upon my conscience—but you don't draw?'
No answer.
'A little, Sir, maybe? Just for a maggot, I'll wager—like my good lady, Mrs. Toole.'
- (slang) A fan of the American metal band Slipknot.
- 2004, “Pulse of the Maggots”, performed by Slipknot:
- (We) We are the new diabolic
(We) We are the bitter bucolic
If I have to give my life, you can have it
(We) We are the pulse of the maggots
Synonyms
edit- (soft legless larva): grub
Derived terms
editRelated terms
editTranslations
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Verb
editmaggot (third-person singular simple present maggots, present participle maggoting, simple past and past participle maggoted)
- (transitive) To rid (an animal) of maggots.
- 1950, Frederick Daniel Smith, Barbara Wilcox, Sold for Two Farthings, page 82:
- In the summer I had to get the sheep penned twice a day to maggot them and I needed a good dog.
Adjective
editmaggot (comparative more maggot, superlative most maggot)
- (colloquial, Australia) Alternative form of maggoted (“drunk; intoxicated”)
- English terms inherited from Middle English
- English terms derived from Middle English
- English terms derived from Anglo-Norman
- English terms derived from Frankish
- English terms derived from Proto-Germanic
- English terms derived from Proto-Indo-European
- English 2-syllable words
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- Rhymes:English/æɡət
- Rhymes:English/æɡət/2 syllables
- English lemmas
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- English countable nouns
- English derogatory terms
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- Regional English
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- Australian English
- en:Baby animals
- en:Dipterans
- en:Fans (people)
- en:People