ICHNEUMON • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Ichneumon

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noun

Ichneumon n.

(Zool.) Any carnivorous mammal of the genus Herpestes, and family Viverridae. Numerous species are found in Asia and Africa. The Egyptian species (Herpestes ichneumon), which ranges to Spain and Palestine, is noted for destroying the eggs and young of the crocodile as well as various snakes and lizards, and hence was considered sacred by the ancient Egyptians. The common species of India (Herpestes griseus), known as the mongoose, has similar habits and is often domesticated. It is noted for killing the cobra.

(Zool.) Any hymenopterous insect of the family Ichneumonidae, of which several thousand species are known, belonging to numerous genera. Note: The female deposits her eggs upon, or in, the bodies of other insects, such as caterpillars, plant lice, etc. The larva lives upon the internal tissues of the insect in which it is parasitic, and finally kills it. Hence, many of the species are beneficial to agriculture by destroying noxious insects.

Ichneumon fly. See Ichneumon, 2.

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Etymology of 'Ichneumon'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Ichneumon" Quotes from Famous Books

... them on her back, to which they cling, while she scrambles amid the forest boughs. Besides the great ant-eater, there is the smaller striped ant-eater, and the little ant-eater. There is a curious creature, called the quash, resembling the ichneumon, which possesses a peculiarly fetid smell, and is known for its powerful, lacerating teeth. There are several species, also, of the armadillo, distinguished as the three-banded, eight-banded, and nine-banded. ...

— The Western World - Picturesque Sketches of Nature and Natural History in North - and South America • W.H.G. Kingston

... has never seen anything in war so slow and fatuous as Grant's recent movements, except it be those of Sherman. Each is wriggling about like a snake in the presence of an ichneumon. They both work round and round, now on one flank and then on the other, and on each move meet the unwinking eye of the enemy, ready for his spring and bite. In sheer despair Grant and Sherman must do something at last. ...

— Great Britain and the American Civil War • Ephraim Douglass Adams

... was his march; His only fear lest rumour should forestall His coming victory. In pretended war He sends Sabura forth with scanty force To tempt the enemy, while in hollow vale He holds the armies of his realm unseen. Thus doth the sly ichneumon (25) with his tail Waving, allure the serpent of the Nile Drawn to the moving shadow: he, with head Turned sideways, watches till the victim glides Within his reach, then seizes by the throat Behind the deadly fangs: forth ...

— Pharsalia; Dramatic Episodes of the Civil Wars • Lucan

Words linked to "Ichneumon" : mongoose