noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   Any of various species of insects, many of them nocturnal, in the family Myrmeleontidae. The adults superficially resemble the unrelated damselflies. The larvae bury themselves in sand below a cone-shaped pit in which they trap insects such as ants.
2. 2
   winged insect resembling a dragonfly; the larvae (doodlebugs) dig conical pits where they wait to catch e.g. ants wordnet
3. 3
   the larva of any of several insects wordnet

Synonyms

All synonyms

ant lionant lionantlion flydoodlebugdoodlebug

Etymology

From ant + lion. Compare translingual Myrmeleon.

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.