thunderfly

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English

Etymology

From thunder +‎ fly.

Noun

thunderfly (plural thunderflies)

  1. Any insect of the genus Thrips.
    • 1987, Fleur Adcock, “Wildlife”, in Gillian Clarke, editor, The Poetry Book Society Anthology 1987/88, London: Hutchinson, →ISBN:
      Meanwhile at the Conference Centre three fire-engines have screamed up. Not, for once, a student smoking in a bedroom: this time a cloud of thunderflies has chosen to swarm on the pearly-pink just-warm globe of a smoke-detector.
    • 2005, Susan Wittig Albert, “Sarah Barwick Makes a Mess”, in The Tale of Holly How (The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter; 2), New York, N.Y.: Berkley Prime Crime, →ISBN, page 32:
      The afternoon had turned overcast and sultry, and Sawrey drowsed in the growing July heat. Clouds of tiny midges—thunderflies, people called them—very small and black, and thought to be a sign of a coming storm, gathered in the air all over the village. […] And whilst thunderflies didn’t bite or sting, they got in one’s eyes and one’s mouth and were certainly aggravating.
    • 2015, Michael Nicholson, chapter 14, in Dark Rosaleen: A Famine Novel, Dublin: The History Press Ireland, published 2016, →ISBN, page 205:
      ‘[…] I remember how we had to make for the boat quickly because of the thunderflies.’ / ‘Thunderflies?’ / ‘Biting midges that could make your life a hell. And the mosquitoes too. We called them buzzers because of the sound they made. […]’

References

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