▪ I. gnat1
(næt)
Forms: 1 gnæt, 2–3 gnet, 3–6 gnatte, (6 ganatte), 4–6 knatt(e, (5, 8 knat), 4– gnat.
[OE. gnæt(t str. masc., cogn. with Ger. dial. gnatze wk. fem.]
1. a. A small two-winged fly of the genus Culex, esp. Culex pipiens, the female of which has a sharp pointed proboscis, by means of which it punctures the skins of animals and sucks their blood. In U.S., the common mosquito, Culex mosquito.
| c 893 K. ælfred Oros. i. vii. §1 Þæt gnættas comon ofer eall þæt land. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 267 Ðeos wyrt [fleabane] gnættas & micgeas & flean acwelleþ. c 1250 Gen. & Ex. 2988 Gnattes..smale to sen, and sarp on bite. c 1350 Parl. Three Ages 50 Gnattes gretely me greuede and gnewen myn eghne. 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xii. xiii. (1495) 422 A gnatte is a lytill flye and highte Culex. 1471 Paston Lett. No. 674 III. 12, I wold fayne my gray horse wer kept in mew for gnattys. 1529 More Comf. agst. Trib. iii. Wks. 1226/2 Lawes..lyke vnto cobwebbes, in whych the lyttle Knattes, and Flyes stycke styll and hange fast. 1562 Turner Herbal ii. 169 Y⊇ same moysture [of the Elm Tree] after y{supt} is dried vp, is resolued into litle flies like Ganattes. 1592 Shakes. Rom. & Jul. i. iv. 64 Her Waggoner, a small gray-coated Gnat. 1617 Hieron Wks. II. 75 Let not our sermons be as the spiders web, thorow which doe breake the greater flies, while onely the lesser gnats are taken. 1789 Mrs. Piozzi Journ. France I. 278 One is bit to death by animals, gnats in particular. 1816 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1843) I. 88 Species..whose bite is severe, but none to be compared to the common Gnat (culex pipiens). c 1850 Arab. Nts. (Rtldg.) 363 He perceived two persons sleeping..their heads covered with linen to protect them from the gnats. |
| fig. 1669 Woodhead St. Teresa i. xviii. 115 This importunate little Gnat of the Memory hath her wings burnt here. |
b. Used as a type of something insignificant;
freq. in allusion to
Matt. xxiii. 24.
Cf. camel n. 1 c.
| c 1000 Ags. Gosp. Matt. xxiii. 24 La blindan latteowas ᵹe drehnigeað þone gnætt [c 1160 Hatton Gosp. gnet] aweᵹ & drincað þone olfynd. a 1225 Ancr. R. 10 Ase moni þet isihð þene gnet & swoluweð þe vliᵹe, þet is, makeð muchel strencðe þer as is lutel. c 1386 Chaucer Manciple's T. 151 Noght worth to thee, in comparison, The mountance of a gnat. 1526 Skelton Magnyf. 1732 But, and I were as ye, I wolde not set a gnat By Magnyfycence. 1535 Coverdale Matt. xxiii. 24 O ye blynde gydes, which strayne out [1611 straine at] a gnat, but swalowe vp a Camell. 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 101 Thou neuer durst abyde to fyght with a gnat. 1611 Shakes. Cymb. i. iii. 21 Till the diminution Of space, had pointed him sharpe as my Needle: Nay..till he had melted from The smalnesse of a Gnat, to ayre. 1692 Bentley Boyle Lect. iii. 86 To discern the smallest Hair upon the leg of a Gnat. 1889 Spectator 14 Dec. 842 We find it a little amusing that he..should so summarily avenge himself upon the little gnat of a writer who has punctured his own cuticle. |
2. Applied to other insects resembling this; in
U.S., to a small stinging fly of the genus
Simulium.
| 1787 Best Angling (ed. 2) 99 The Little black Gnat. Ibid. 116 The Blue-Gnat. 1799 G. Smith Laboratory II. 290 The white-gnat. This is composed of a black head, and a pale wing. 1867 F. Francis Angling vi. (1880) 217 The Black Gnat..has been called ‘the fisherman's curse’. |
3. attrib. and
Comb., as
gnat-like adj. and
adv.;
gnat-catcher, an American bird of the genus
Polioptila,
esp. P. cærulea;
gnat-flower, a name for
Ophrys apifera;
† gnat-gnapper = gnat-snapper;
gnat-hawk, a provincial name of the Nightjar;
gnat-net, a net to protect one from the attacks of gnats;
gnat's (or gnats') piss slang, a very weak beverage; a drink of poor quality;
gnat satyrion ?
= gnat-flower;
gnat-sin nonce-wd., a trivial sin (in reference to
Matt. xxiii. 24);
gnat-snap,
-snapper, a name given to various small birds; in 17th c. used to translate L.
ficedula; see also
gnat2; also
fig., as a term of contempt;
gnat-strainer (see
quot.; after
Matt. xxiii. 24); so
gnat-straining;
gnat-worm, the larva of a gnat.
| 1883 Century Mag. Sept. 685/1 The nest of..the little gray *gnat-catcher. |
| 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 109/1 The *Gnat Flower, that is yellow and brown. 1755 Johnson, Gnat-flower, a flower otherwise called the beeflower. |
| 1627 Hakewill Apologie iv. vii. §8. 364 In the morning fasting, he dispatched..an hundred *gnat-gnappers [tr. L. ficedulas] & forty oysters. [Marg.] A bird like a nightingall, feeding on figges. |
| 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Birds 97 Nightjar (Caprimulgus europæus)..From its fondness for moths and beetles it has also the names of..Moth hawk (Forfar). *Gnat hawk (Hants). |
| 1905 Westm. Gaz. 1 Feb. 2/3 Drifts *gnat-like to the flame. 1915 E. R. Lankester Divers. Naturalist 216 In early September, golf links..swarm with a large gnat⁓like fly of reddish-brown body. 1950 W. de la Mare Inward Compan. 37 A gnatlike wail. |
| 1658 Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus ii. 42 The ancient Conopeion or *gnatnet of the ægyptians. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal i. ci. 163 *Gnat Satirion..The stalke groweth to the height of an hand, whereon are placed verie orderly small flowers like in shape to Gnats and of the same colour. |
| 1646 Fuller Wounded Consc. (1841) 332 That those should be choked with a *gnat-sin, who have swallowed many camel-sins. |
| 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. v. 714 The little *Gnat⁓snap (worthy Princes Boords). 1610 W. Folkingham Art Survey iv. iii. 83 The Godwit, Gnat-snap, Knot. 1885 [see gnat2]. |
| 1598 Florio, Culobianco, a birde called a *gnat⁓snapper. 1633 Hart Diet Diseased i. xxiii. 104 [He] had them [Parrats]..served in at table as though they had beene but ordinary Gnat-snappers. 1653 Urquhart Rabelais i. xxv. 116 Calling them..grouthead gnat-snappers. 1731 Medley Kolben's Cape G. Hope II. 154 Gnat-snappers, which are much seen at the Cape (where they are likewise call'd Honey- or Bee-Eaters) some reckon a sort of Tit⁓mouses. |
| 1959 I. & P. Opie Lore & Lang. Schoolch. ix. 164 Weak tea may be ‘*gnat's piss’. 1963 B. S. Johnson Travelling People v. 110 Where'd you get this gnatspiss from, Maurie?.. I can get you gnatspiss as good as this gnatspiss for sixteen bob a bottle. 1966 ‘L. Lane’ ABZ of Scouse 41 Gnats' piss, cider, near beer, weak tea or any drink. |
| 1846 Worcester, *Gnat-strainer, one who places too much importance on little things. |
| 1858 Dickens Lett. (1880) II. 82 Whereof comes all manner of camel-swallowing and of *gnat-straining. |
| 1858 Sir T. Browne Gard. Cyrus iii. 59 He that would behold a very anomalous motion, may observe it in the Tortile and tiring stroaks of *Gnat⁓worms. 1806 P. Wakefield Dom. Recreat. x. 150 Before the gnat-worms have attained their full growth. |
▪ II. gnat2 Obs. exc. dial. (
næt)
Also
knat.
[Corruption of knot n.2, prob. influenced by the synonyms gnat-snap, -snapper (see prec.).] A kind of Sandpiper (
Tringa canutus); see also
quot. 1864.
| a 1616 B. Jonson Epigr. i. ci. 20 (1616) 799 Partrich, pheasant, woodcock..godwit..knat, raile, and ruffe too. 1672 Shadwell Miser iii. Wks. 1720 III. 57 Goldingham. Peace, Sirrah, and tell me what we must have [sc. for supper]..James. Partridges, Gnats, Godwits. a 1682 Sir T. Browne Norf. Birds Wks. 1835 IV. 319 Gnats or knots, a small bird, which, taken with nets, grow excessively fat, being mewed and fed with corn. 1864 Atkinson Prov. Names Birds, Gnat or Knat, prov. name (Kent) for Lesser Tern. Sterna minuta. 1885 Swainson Prov. Names Birds 194 Knot (Tringa canutus). So called, according to Camden, in honour of King Canute..Whence also Gnat; Knat; Knet..Gnat snap. |