What Is the Plural of the Word Louse

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louse

[ noun lous; verb lous, louz ]

/ noun laʊs; verb laʊs, laʊz /

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noun, plural lice [lahys] /laɪs/ for 1-3, lous·es for 4.

any small, wingless insect of the order Anoplura (sucking louse ), parasitic on humans and other mammals and having mouthparts adapted for sucking, as Pediculus humanus humanus (body louse ) or Pediculus humanus capitis (head louse ) and Phthirius pubis (crab louse, or pubic louse ).

any insect of the order Mallophaga (bird louse, biting louse, or chewing louse ), parasitic on birds and mammals, having mouthparts adapted for biting.

Slang. a contemptible person, especially an unethical one.

verb (used with object), loused, lous·ing.

Verb Phrases

louse up, Slang. to spoil; botch: Miscasting loused up the movie.

QUIZ

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Origin of louse

First recorded before 900; 1910–15 for def. 4; Middle English lous(e), luse, plural lise, lice; Old English lūs, plural lȳs; cognate with Dutch luis, German Laus, Old Norse lūs

Words nearby louse

lour, Lourdes, Lourenço Marques, lourie, loury, louse, louser, louse up, lousewort, lousy, lousy with

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2021

Words related to louse

How to use louse in a sentence

• The hog louse lives primarily on swine, where the insect feeds on blood, and is one of the largest sucking lice.

• The tubes running along the louse are respiratory tubes, called tracheae, carrying oxygen to tissues.

• The seal louse is the only one of them able to survive in the ocean, says Leonardi.

• Joshua Benoit isn't surprised that the first insect found to survive such high pressures is the seal louse.

• All louse species, he notes, even those that live on humans, need to stick with their host animals to survive.

• Only two soil types in the world are inhabitable for this root louse: one is sand, and the other is slate.

• His spineless duplicity confirms that the good guy is actually pretty much a louse.

• Next in line is the body louse—the only dangerous member of the troika.

• This not only makes you look like a louse, it makes you look like a helpless, bed-wetting man-child.

• When Silajdzic raised this, Milosevic said, "I am not a louse," and yielded immediately.

• While a counsellor was pleading at the Irish bar, a louse unluckily peeped from under his wig.

• The itch-mite (Acarus scabiei) and the louse (Pediculus capitis, corporis, vel pubis) are the more common members of the group.

• The good influence of the operations of the Trinity louse might be shown by many interesting instances.

• The messengers came to the house of Xmucane, who, filled with alarm, dispatched a louse to carry the summons to her grandsons.

• Brisk as a body-louse she trips,Clean as a penny drest; Sweet as a rose her breath and lips,Round as the globe her breast.

British Dictionary definitions for louse

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noun plural lice (laɪs)

any wingless bloodsucking insect of the order Anoplura: includes Pediculus capitis (head louse), Pediculus corporis (body louse), and the crab louse, all of which infest man Related adjective: pedicular

biting louse or bird louse any wingless insect of the order Mallophaga, such as the chicken louse: external parasites of birds and mammals with biting mouthparts

any of various similar but unrelated insects, such as the plant louse and book louse

plural louses slang an unpleasant or mean person

verb (tr)

to remove lice from

(foll by up) slang to ruin or spoil

Word Origin for louse

Old English lūs; related to Old High German, Old Norse lūs

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Medical definitions for louse

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n. pl. lice (līs)

Any of numerous small, flat-bodied, wingless biting or sucking insects of the orders Mallophaga or Anoplura, many of which are external parasites on humans.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.

What Is the Plural of the Word Louse

Source: https://www.dictionary.com/browse/louse

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