Forms: α. 1 wæfs, wæps, 2 weaps, 5. dial. 8–9 waps, 7, 9 dial. wapse, 9 dial. wops(e. β. 1 wæsp, 4–7 waspe (7 whaspe, 8 whasp), 6– wasp. Pl. α. 5 wappys. [OE. wæfs, wæps, wæsp masc. corresponds (with differences of declension) to OS. uuepsia, fem. (MLG. wepse, wespe, wispe), MDu. wespe fem. (mod.Du. wesp), OHG. wafsa, wefsa fem. (MHG. wefse, webse, mod.G. wespe, dial. webes):—OTeut. *waðiso-z, -isō, *waps-:—pre-Teut. *wobhes-, *wops-: cf. Lith. vapsà gadfly, Osl. vosa (Russ. osá) wasp; L. vespa has another ablaut-grade. The root is believed to be *webh- to weave, the name having reference to the nests which the insect constructs.
The word is not found in Gothic, and in the Scandinavian langs. it exists only as an adoption from Low German: Da. hveps, Norw. kvefs, gvefs, veps, vops, etc., mod. Icel. vespa. The OF. guespe, mod. F. guêpe, represents the L. vespa, but the initial gu- (:—w-) for v seems to be due to the influence of the Teut. word.]
1. In popular language, any insect of the genus Vespa; chiefly applied to V. vulgaris, the Common Wasp, and such other species as are not readily distinguishable from this; sometimes taken to include the Hornet, V. crabro, which resembles the Common Wasp, but is larger and has a more powerful sting. The obvious characteristics of the genus are the alternate rings of black and yellow on the abdomen, the narrow stalk or petiole by which the abdomen is attached to the thorax, the fully developed wings, and the formidable sting (which, however, is peculiar to the females and the workers or imperfect females). In scientific language applied generally to two divisions of hymenopterous insects, the Diploptera or true wasps, and the Fossores or digger wasps.
The true wasps (Diploptera) are divided into three families; (1) Vespidæ, to which the common wasp belongs; (2) Eumenidæ; and (3) Masaridæ.
See also DIGGER sb. 4, PAPER sb. 12, QUEEN sb. 13, SAND sb.2 10 b. SOCIAL a. 6 b, SOLITARY a. 4.
c. 725. Corpus Gloss. (Hessels), C 902. Crabro: waefs vel hurnitu. Ibid., F 136. Fespa, waefs.
c. 875. Erfurt Gloss., 255. C[r]abro: uaeps.
a. 1100. Ags. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 318/36. Uespa, weaps.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, vii. (James Minor), 420. Þe waspis þat in his hewid ware, at his nese-thrillis flaw al owt.
c. 1394. P. Pl. Crede, 648. Þer is no waspe in þis werlde þat will wilfullok[e]r styngen, For stappyng on a too of a styncande frere!
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 3011. Full many flees may fell, bot a fewe waspis.
a. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 141. Out of hys naseþurles dropped wormys out lyke waspes.
1496. Cov. Leet Bk., 577. Where as they light, The been will byte, And also styng. Be-ware of wappys.
1523–34. Fitzherb., Husb., § 122. And beware, that no waspes come in-to the hyue, for they wyll kyl the bees, and eate the honny.
1546. J. Heywood, Prov., I. xi. (1867), 25. Nowe mery as a cricket, and by and by, Angry as a waspe, though in both no cause why.
1593. G. Harvey, Pierces Super., 148. I cannot maruell enough, how the nimble Bee should be ingendred of the sluggish Oxe, or the liuely waspe of the dead Horse.
a. 1591. H. Smith, Serm. (1637), 239. God is not like a Waspe, which when she hath stung cannot sting again.
1653. Walton, Angler, xii. 226. To take the Roch and Dace, a good bait is the young brood of Wasps or Bees, baked or hardned in their husks in an Oven.
1724. Derham, in Phil. Trans., XXXIII. 54. The Male Wasps are lesser than the Queens, but as much longer and larger than the Common Wasps, as the Queen is longer and larger than these.
1730. Young, Epist., i. To Pope, 33. As by depredations whasps proclaim The fairest fruit.
1802. Bingley, Anim. Biog. (1813), III. 263. The nest of the Common Wasp is always formed under the surface of the earth.
1848. Alb. Smith, Chr. Tadpole, xlix. 421. ‘Just as if we hadn’t enough wapses,’ exclaimed the old lady…. ‘No, my good Grittles—that’s a hornet,—not a “waps” as you wrongly call it.’
1862. Calverley, Verses & Transl. (ed. 2), 95. As females vanish at the sight Of short-horns and of wopses.
1905. H. G. Wells, Kipps, II. iii. § 3. ‘These old Roman chaps ——’ he said; and then the wasps arrived. They killed three in the jam alone.
2. fig. a. Applied to persons characterized by irascibility and persistent petty malignity, esp. to a multitude of contemptible but irritating assailants.
1508. Dunbar, Flyting, 195. Wan wraiglane wasp.
1560. Bp. Pilkington, Aggeus, Pref. A iij. So … vnder our gracious late Iosias, crepte oute a swarm of romish waspes, stynging to death all who wold not worshyp theyr gods, nor beleue theyr doctrine.
1596. Shaks., Tam. Shrew, II. i. 210. Come, come you Waspe, y’faith you are too angrie.
1611. Beaum. & Fl., King & No K., IV. iii. I will not hear you, wasp.
a. 1660. Contemp. Hist. Irel. (Ir. Archæol. Soc.), I. 169. The Frenche Agent … promised to joine with the Generall for a publicke redresse from those perfidious whaspes.
1721. Amherst, Terræ Fil., No. 5. 23. I had no sooner undertaken this task, but I raised a nest of holy wasps and hornets about my ears.
1775. H. Walpole, Lett. to W. Cole, 25 April. The reviewers and such litterati have called me a learned and ingenious gentleman…. These wasps, I suppose, will be very angry at the just contempt Mr. Gray had for them.
1791. D’Israeli, Cur. Lit., I. 97. Sallo, after having published only his third Journal, felt the irritated wasps of literature thronging so thick about him, that he very gladly abdicated the throne of Criticism.
1844. W. Cross, Disruption, xxxiii. 362. Mr. Bacon, ye ken, is in a pretty pickle wi’ this wasp o’ a body McCorkle.
1910. Ld. Rosebery, Chatham, vii. 177. Glover was an ill-conditioned wasp, and his story refutes itself.
b. Something that irritates or offends one.
† The wasp got him by the nose (Prov.): he was infuriated.
1588. Marprel. Epist. (Arb.), 20. At the hearing of this speeche, the waspe got my brother by the nose, which mad him in his rage to affirme, that [etc.].
1613. Shaks., Hen. VIII., III. ii. 55.
| There be moe Waspes that buz about his Nose, | |
| Will make this sting the sooner. |
1781. Cowper, Truth, 160. Of temper as envenom’d as an asp; Censorious, and her ev’ry word a wasp.
1845. Jerrold, St. Giles, iv. (1851), 34. That little head of his is full of wasps as July.
3. An artificial fly for salmon-fishing (made to imitate the appearance of a wasp). Cf. wasp-fly in 5 b.
1867. F. Francis, Angling, x. (1880), 352. Some of the Tay flies, particularly the Wasps, dressed small, will kill well in the Tweed.
4. Conchol. A variety of cowry (see quot.).
1815. S. Brookes, Introd. Conchol., 157. Wasp, Cypræa Asellus.
5. attrib. and Comb., as wasp-comb, -egg, -grub, -honey, -larva, -maggot, -pupa, -sting, -worm; wasp-barbed, -like adjs.
1887. Ruskin, Præterita, II. 346. One of the worst, *wasp-barbed, most tingling pangs of my memory is yet of a sunny afternoon at Pisa, when [etc.].
1877. Wood, Nature’s Teachings, 168. There is … one curious point of difference between the *Wasp-comb and human architecture.
1870. Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. IV. VI. 327. It is … also a great deal smaller than the *wasp-egg.
1760. Sir J. Hawkins, Walton’s Angler, xi. 197, note. There are no better Baits for this fish than … a Gentle, a young *Wasp-grub boiled, or a green Worm.
1904. Westm. Gaz., 4 July, 2/3. Some *wasp honey.
1870. *Wasp-larva [see wasp-pupa].
1668. Wilkins, Real Char., 125. *Wasp-like Fly Maggot.
1867. G. Musgrave, Nooks Old France, II. 209. Picturesque and coquette as ever, their [mills’] wasp-like waists were even smaller than those on the banks of the Loire.
1678. Ray, Willughby’s Ornith., II. v. 72, marg. *Wasp-Maggots or Grubs.
1836. Jesse, Angler’s Rambles, 197. The chub may be taken with … gentles, wasp-maggots, and black-snails.
1870. Ann. & Mag. Nat. Hist., Ser. IV. VI. 314. Doubtless also their fellow inhabitants, described … as injured *wasp-pupæ, were in reality the partially devoured wasp-larvæ.
1726. Swift, Gulliver, II. viii. Four *Wasp Stings, like Joyners Tacks.
1822. Scott, Halidon Hill, I. ii. 339. A cobweb gossamer were guard as good Against a wasp-sting.
1804–6. *Wasp-worm [see WASPHOOD].
b. Special comb.: wasp-bee, a bee of the genus Nomada, a cuckoo-bee; wasp-beetle, a beetle of the genus Clytus, esp. C. arietis; wasp-cake dial., the comb in a wasp’s nest; wasp-flower, a flower frequented by honey-gathering wasps; wasp-fly, a syrphid fly somewhat resembling a hornet; also an artificial fly for fishing; wasp-paper, the paper-like material, produced by mastication, of which wasps’ nests are made; † wasp-spade, a spade for digging out wasps’ nests; † wasp-stung a., irritable (as if stung by a wasp); wasp-waist, a very slender waist, esp. the characteristic waist of a woman who laces tightly; wasp-wood dial. (see quot.).
1844. F. Smith, in Zoologist, II. 587. Descriptions of the British *Wasp-Bees.
1704. Petiver, Gazophyl., III. Tab. xxvii. The Maryland *Wasp Beetle.
1863. Wood, Illustr. Nat. Hist., III. 476. The common wasp beetle (Clytus arietis).
1907. Westm. Gaz., 28 Aug., 10/1. Experienced anglers cannot recall a season in which *wasp-cake is so difficult to obtain.
1884. Cornhill Mag., Oct., 399. *Wasp-flowers are remarkable for having a helmet-shaped tube, exactly fitted to a wasp’s head, with abundant honey filling the bottom of the bell.
1676. Cotton, Angler, II. viii. 77. We have likewise this month [July] a *Wasp-flie, made … of a dark brown dubbing … ribb’d about with yellow silk.
1681. Grew, Musæum, I. § vii. i. 156. The Wasp-Fly, Tabani species altera.
1854. Mary Howitt, Pict. Cal. Seasons, 404. The buzz of a wasp-fly, when resting apparently motionless on the window.
1867. F. Francis, Angling, xii. (1880), 456. The Wasp Fly.—Three mauve hackle fibres for tail [etc.].
1899. D. Sharp, Insects, II. 83. These little habitations consist of masses of cells, wrapped in *wasp-paper, in which there are one or more orifices for ingress and egress.
1609. C. Butler, Fem. Mon. (1634), 126. With a *Wasp-spade, search for the nest.
1596. Shaks., 1 Hen. IV., I. iii. 236 (1598 Qo). Why what a *waspe-stung [later Quos. wasp(e) tongue; Folios wasp(e)-tongu’d] and impatient foole Art thou?
1870. Illustr. Lond. News, 24 Sept., 330. The fearful displacement of the vital organs which must be effected to procure a *wasp-waist.
1905. Athenæum, 18 March, 344/3. The cylinder … shows a person tightly cinctured, and with a wasp-waist, resembling the men on Mycenæan monuments.
1887. N. & Q., Ser. VII. III. 421. Touchwood, or as it is sometimes called, *wasp-wood, because wasps use it to make their nests.
