lightning bug

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lightning bug

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

lightning bug

(Animals) US and Canadian another name for the firefly

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

fire•fly

(ˈfaɪ^ərˌflaɪ)

n., pl. -flies.

any nocturnal beetle of the family Lampyridae having a light-producing organ at the rear of the abdomen. Also called lightning bug. Compare glowworm.

[1650–60]

fireflies, lightning bug - Fireflies glow for a while but die down; lightning bugs flash their taillights for only a few seconds and never in the same place twice.

See also related terms for seconds.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

lightning bug - nocturnal beetle common in warm regions having luminescent abdominal organs

firefly

beetle - insect having biting mouthparts and front wings modified to form horny covers overlying the membranous rear wings

family Lampyridae, Lampyridae - fireflies

glowworm - the luminous larva or wingless grub-like female of a firefly

Translations

Glühwürmchen

πυγολαμπίδα

lucciola

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References in classic literature ?

It was Jack-o'-lanterns, or lightning bugs; so he set down again, and went to watching, same as before.

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The firefly, or lightning bug, is actually a beetle from the family Lampyridae, meaning "shining fire" in Latin.

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"Our private brands serve as a point of differentiation from our competitors, and we introduced three new private brands earlier this year--Madison, Wonderly and Lightning Bug," Belk spokeswoman Tyler Hampton told HFN.

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And indeed, the incredible display unfolding before them looked almost like strands and strands of miniature blinking Christmas lights had been stretched out between the trees, with each lightning bug flashing its bright white light in time with every other lightning bug at a frenzied pace.

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Whether you're calling it a lightning bug or firefly, it's the same little bug."

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Featherweight Ricky "Cowboy" Tomlinson of Thonotasassa, FL handed Baltimore, MD native Ernest "Lightning Bug" Hall his first defeat in an entertaining four round contest.

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What Mark Twain once famously observed about the nuances of communication could also be said about the fragility of relationship: "The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the differenc between lightning and a lightning bug."

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and I do want notebooks made with silk pages with lightning bug

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Talk about the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.

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The Good Humor man swings by with his tinkling truck: childhoods of lightning bug lanterns, the jive patter of 50's DJ's.

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The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and lightning bug. (1) --Mark Twain