PARASITE • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Parasite

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/pˈɛrəsˌaɪt/ Listen

noun

Parasite n.

One who frequents the tables of the rich, or who lives at another's expense, and earns his welcome by flattery; a hanger-on; a toady; a sycophant. "Thou, with trembling fear, Or like a fawning parasite, obey'st." "Parasites were called such smell-feasts as would seek to be free guests at rich men's tables."

(Bot.)

(a)

A plant obtaining nourishment immediately from other plants to which it attaches itself, and whose juices it absorbs; sometimes, but erroneously, called epiphyte.

(b)

A plant living on or within an animal, and supported at its expense, as many species of fungi of the genus Torrubia.

(Zool.)

(a)

An animal which lives during the whole or part of its existence on or in the body of some other animal, feeding upon its food, blood, or tissues, as lice, tapeworms, etc.

(b)

An animal which steals the food of another, as the parasitic jager.

(c)

An animal which habitually uses the nest of another, as the cowbird and the European cuckoo.

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Etymology of 'Parasite'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Parasite" Quotes from Famous Books

... "You big-hearted old parasite," his own heart was singing. "If you could only keep that ring of truth that's in your voice for your platform utterances—why, in less than no time you could afford to feed your Afro-Americans on nightingales' ...

— The Eagle's Shadow • James Branch Cabell

... first examined there were no other indications of the growth of any parasite; but from the interior of the abdomen of a second bee I obtained an abundance of well-defined globular bodies resembling the spores of a fungus, varying in size from .00016 to .00012 in. Three out of four ...

— Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society - Vol. 3 - Zoology • Various

... delightful humour, in a novel of incident like the present tale as there is in that fine novel of manners: "A Hungarian Nabob." Yet even in "Szegeny Gazdagok," many of the minor characters (e.g., the parasite Margari, the old miser Demetrius, the Hungarian Miggs, Clementina, the frivolous Countess Kengyelesy), are not without a mild Dickensian flavour, while in that rugged but good-natured and chivalrous Nimrod, Mr. Gerzson, the Hungarian novelist has drawn to the life ...

— The Poor Plutocrats • Maurus Jokai

... good understanding between the parasites and the prostitutes. From the very nature of their calling, they were the friends and companions of courtesans. Such characters could not but be mutually necessary to each other. The harlot solicited the acquaintance of the client or parasite, that she might the more easily obtain and carry on intrigues with the rich and dissipated. The parasite was assiduous in his attention to the courtesan, as procuring through her means, more easy access to his patrons, and was ...

— The Satyricon, Complete • Petronius Arbiter

... fine reliefs of the Deposition and the Resurrection, with the heads of Evangelists and Prophets above them. Six realistic heads are here too, one of which is Titian's, one Sansovino's himself, and one the head of Aretino, the witty and licentious writer and gilt-edged parasite—this last a strange selection for a sacristy door. Sansovino designed also the bronze figures of the Evangelists on the balustrade of the choir stalls and the reliefs of the Doge's and Dogaressa's ...

— A Wanderer in Venice • E.V. Lucas

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