noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun

1. 1
   A biting insect; a gadfly or botfly. countable, obsolete, uncountable

   "In the œstrum or gadfly, the wimble draws out like the pieces of a spy-glass […]."

2. 2
   Something that stings or incites one to frenzy or action; an impulse or passion. archaic, countable, figuratively, uncountable
3. 3
   Estrus. archaic, countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms

heatoestrusrut

Example

More examples

"In the œstrum or gadfly, the wimble draws out like the pieces of a spy-glass […]."

Etymology

From Latin oestrum, variant of oestrus.

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