Mite
name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 Any of many minute arachnids which, along with the ticks, comprise subclass Acarina (aka Acari).
- 2 any of numerous very small to minute arachnids often infesting animals or plants or stored foods wordnet
- 3 A small coin formerly circulated in England, rated at about a third of a farthing.
"One mite wrung from the lab'rer's hands Shall buy and sell the miser's lands;"
- 4 a slight but appreciable amount wordnet
- 5 A lepton, a small coin used in Judea in the time of Christ.
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- 6 A small weight; one twentieth of a grain.
- 7 Anything very small; a minute object; a very little quantity or particle. adverbial, sometimes
"a mite"
- 8 A small or naughty person, or one people take pity on; rascal. colloquial, often
"Today's children at Christmas-time take a cast-off toy to the Toy Service held in many churches, and it is a pretty sight to watch those tiny mites clutching their toys and parting from them.j"
- 1 Eye dialect spelling of might. alt-of, pronunciation-spelling
- 1 A minor river in Cumbria, England, which joins the Cumbrian Esk and River Irt near Ravenglass.
Example
More examples"A tick is a hematophagous mite."
Etymology
From Middle English mite, from Old English mīte (“mite, tiny insect”), from Proto-West Germanic *mītā, from Proto-Germanic *mītǭ (“biting insect”, literally “cutter”), from *maitaną (“to cut”), from Proto-Indo-European *mey- (“small”) or *meh₂y- (“to cut”). Akin to Old High German mīza (“mite”), Middle Dutch mīte (“moth, mite”), Dutch mijt (“moth, mite”), Danish mide (“mite”).