▪ I. earwig
(ˈɪəwɪg)
Forms: 1, 2 earwicga, (1 eorwicga), 5 erwyge, ȝerwigge, erewygge, 6 erwygge, (herewigge), 6–7 earwigge, 7 earwick, earewigg, 6– earwig.
[OE. éarwicga, f. éar-e, ear n.1 +OE. wicga earwig; cf. wiggle v. to wriggle. See also arwygyll. Cf. Fr. perce-oreille, Ger. ohr-wurm.]
1. An insect, Forficula auricularia, so called from the notion that it penetrates into the head through the ear.
| c 1000 ælfric Gloss. in Wr.-Wülcker 122 Blatta, erowicga. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 44 Wiþ earwicgan, ᵹenim þæt micle greate windel streaw twyecᵹe..ceop on þæt eare he bið of sona. 14.. Voc. Harl. MS. 1002 in Promp. Parv. 143 note, Auriolus, a ȝerwigge. c 1450 MS. Sloane 4. 80 in N. & Q. iii. VI. 4 Y⊇ blacke flye, y⊇ erwyge, y⊇ old waspys. 1547 Salesbury Welsh Dict., Pryf klustioc, an erwygge. 1601 Holland Pliny II. 300 If an earwig..be gotten into the eare..spit into the same, and it will come forth anon. a 1643 W. Cartwright Poems (1651) (N.) I'm afraid 'Tis with one worm, one earwick overlaid. 1727 Swift To Young Lady, To fall into fits at the sight of a spider, an earwig or a frog. a 1845 Hood Tale of Trumpet ix, No verbal message was worth a pin, Though you hired an earwig to carry it in! |
¶ Perhaps with a pun on heretic.
| 1563 Foxe A. & M. (1631) III. xii. 988/2 He was once at the burning of an Herewigge (for so hee termed it) at Uxbridge. |
† 2. fig. An ear whisperer, flatterer, parasite.
| 1633 Ford Broken H. ii. i, That gawdy earwig, or my lord your patron, Whose pensioner you are. 1688 Pol. Ballads (1860) I. 260 Court earwigs banish from your ears. 1758 Herald II. 46 The earwigs of royalty..will not hereafter be suffered to mislead majesty by whispering, etc. |
3. Comb., as † earwig-brain, one who has a ‘maggot’ or craze in his brain.
| 1599 Nashe Lent. Stuffe 74 Eight score more galliard cross-points, and kickshiwinshes, of giddy ear-wig brains. |
▪ II. earwig, v.
(ˈɪəwɪg)
[f. the n.]
1. a. To pester with private importunities or admonitions. b. To influence, bias (a person) by secret communications; to insinuate oneself into the confidence of (a person).
| 1837 Marryat Dog-fiend (L.), He was so sure to be earwigged in private that what he heard or said openly went for little. 1839 Dickens O. Twist (1850) 251/2 Suppose he was to do all this..not grabbed, trapped, tried, earwigged by the parson..but of his own fancy. 1839 Blackw. Mag. XLV. 767 Each secretary of state is earwigged by a knot of sturdy beggars. 1867 Smyth Sailor's Word-bk., Earwigging, feeding an officer's ear with scandal against an absent individual. |
2. in pa. pple. ? Having a ‘maggot’ or craze in one's brain. nonce-use.
| 1880 Browning Pietro of Abano 340 The people clamour, Hold their peace, now fight, now fondle, earwigged through the brains. |