Hypertext Webster Gateway: "wasp"
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Wasp \Wasp\, n. [OE. waspe, AS. w[ae]ps, w[ae]fs; akin to D.
wesp, G. wespe, OHG. wafsa, wefsa, Lith. vapsa gadfly, Russ.
osa wasp, L. vespa, and perhaps to E. weave.] (Zo["o]l.)
Any one of numerous species of stinging hymenopterous
insects, esp. any of the numerous species of the genus
{Vespa}, which includes the true, or social, wasps, some of
which are called {yellow jackets}.
Note: The social wasps make a complex series of combs, of a
substance like stiff paper, often of large size, and
protect them by a paperlike covering. The larv[ae] are
reared in the cells of the combs, and eat insects and
insect larv[ae] brought to them by the adults, but the
latter feed mainly on the honey and pollen of flowers,
and on the sweet juices of fruit. See Illust. in
Appendix.
{Digger wasp}, any one of numerous species of solitary wasps
that make their nests in burrows which they dig in the
ground, as the sand wasps. See {Sand wasp}, under {Sand}.
{Mud wasp}. See under {Mud}.
{Potter wasp}. See under {Potter}.
{Wasp fly}, a species of fly resembling a wasp, but without a
sting.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
WASP
n 1: a White Protestant of Anglo-Saxon ancestry [syn: {WASP}, {white
Anglo-Saxon Protestant}]
2: social or solitary hymenopterans typically having a slender
body with the abdomen attached by a narrow stalk and
having a formidable sting
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