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Webster 1913 Edition

Maggot

Mag′got

,
Noun.
[W.
macai
, pl.
maceiod
,
magiod
, a worn or grub; cf.
magu
to bread.]
1.
(Zool.)
The footless larva of any fly. See
Larval
.
2.
A whim; an odd fancy.
Hudibras. Tennyson.

Webster 1828 Edition

Maggot

MAG'GOT

, n.
1.
A worm or grub; particularly, the flyworm, from the egg of the large blue or green fly. This maggot changes into a fly.
2.
A whim; an odd fancy.

Definition 2024

maggot

maggot

English

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.
  3. (obsolete) A whimsy or fancy.
    Mr. Beveridge's Maggot, an old country dance .
    • 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?
  4. (slang) A fan of the American metal band Slipknot.

Synonyms

  • (soft legless larva): grub

Derived terms

Related terms

Translations

Etymology

From Middle English magot, magotte, probably Anglo-Norman alteration of maddock ‎(“worm", "maggot”), originally a diminutive form of a base represented by Old English maþa (Scots mathe), from common Proto-Germanic root *mathon-, from the Proto-Indo-European root *math-, 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 his or her brain.

Pronunciation

  • enPR: măg'ət, IPA(key): /ˈmæɡət/

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