maggot

Hello, you have come here looking for the meaning of the word maggot. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word maggot, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say maggot in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word maggot you have here. The definition of the word maggot will help you to be more precise and correct when speaking or writing your texts. Knowing the definition ofmaggot, as well as those of other words, enriches your vocabulary and provides you with more and better linguistic resources.

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

From Middle English magot, magotte, probably Anglo-Norman metathetic alteration of maddock (“worm", "maggot”), originally a diminutive form of a base represented by Old English maþa (Scots mathe), from Frankish *maþō, from common Proto-Germanic *maþô, from the Proto-Indo-European root *mat, which was used in insect names, equivalent to made +‎ -ock. Near-cognates include Dutch made, German Made and Swedish mask.

The use of maggot to mean a fanciful or whimsical thing derives from the folk belief that a whimsical or crotchety person had maggots in their brain.

Pronunciation

Noun

maggot (plural maggots)

  1. A soft, legless larva of a fly or other dipterous insect, that often eats decomposing organic matter.
  2. (derogatory) A worthless person.
    Drop and give me fifty, maggot.
    • 1971, Richard Carpenter, Catweazle and the Magic Zodiac, Harmondsworth: Puffin Books, page 32:
      "Maggot!" said Catweazle angrily. "Sit thee down!"
  3. (archaic or dialect) A whimsy or fancy.
    • 1620, John Fletcher, Women Pleased, III.iv:
      Are you not mad, my friend? What time o' th' moon is't? / Have not you maggots in your brain?
    • 1778, Frances Burney, Journals & Letters, Penguin, published 2001, page 100:
      ‘I am ashamed of him! how can he think of humouring you in such maggots!’
    • 1863, Sheridan Le Fanu, The House by the Churchyard:
      […] If you draw, Sir, there's one prospect up the river, by the mills—upon my conscience—but you don't draw?'
      No answer.
      'A little, Sir, maybe? Just for a maggot, I'll wager—like my good lady, Mrs. Toole.'
  4. (slang) A fan of the American metal band Slipknot.
    • 2004, “Pulse of the Maggots”, performed by Slipknot:
      (We) We are the new diabolic
      (We) We are the bitter bucolic
      If I have to give my life, you can have it
      (We) We are the pulse of the maggots

Synonyms

  • (soft legless larva): grub

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

Verb

maggot (third-person singular simple present maggots, present participle maggoting, simple past and past participle maggoted)

  1. (transitive) To rid (an animal) of maggots.
    • 1950, Frederick Daniel Smith, Barbara Wilcox, Sold for Two Farthings, page 82:
      In the summer I had to get the sheep penned twice a day to maggot them and I needed a good dog.

Adjective

maggot (comparative more maggot, superlative most maggot)

  1. (colloquial, Australia) Alternative form of maggoted (“drunk; intoxicated”)
Wikious
Boobota
Sagapedia