ˈdragon-fly, dragon fly
The common name for neuropterous insects of the group Libellulina, characterized by a long, slender body, large eyes, and two pairs of large reticulated wings, and by their strong, swift flight. (See also quots. 1917 and 1937.)
| 1626 Bacon Sylva §729 The delicate coloured Dragon Flies may have likewise some Corrosive quality. 1694 E. Floyd in Phil. Trans. XVIII. 46 Wings..resembling..those of the larger Libellæ, or Dragon-flies. 1782 André in Phil. Trans. LXXII. 440 The wonderful structure of the eyes of insects..most commonly illustrated by that of the Libellula, or Dragon-fly. 1859 Tennent Ceylon I. ii. vi. 247 Above the pools dragon flies, of more than metallic lustre, flash in the early sunbeams. 1917 R. J. Tillyard Biol. Dragonflies i. 1 In his subdivision of the Class of Insecta, Linnaeus placed all the Dragonflies known to him in the single genus Libellula, forming the family Libellulidae of the..Order Neuroptera. His pupil Fabricius, in re-arranging the Orders of Insects..constituted the Dragonflies as a separate Order under the name of Odonata, because of the form of their mandibles... The name Odonata persisted, and has been adopted by all subsequent writers. 1937 C. Longfield Dragonflies Brit. Isles 6 A somewhat unfortunate situation has arisen by the double use of the word ‘dragonfly’. For the past sixty years or so it has been used as the popular name for the whole Order of the Odonata. However, the first use of the word..only designated the large species then known to naturalists of the Sub-order Anisoptera, in contradistinction to the ‘damsel-flies’ or Zygoptera. 1970 Age (Melbourne) 22 June, Dragon-flies together with the smaller damsel-flies make up the order Odonata. |