hornet

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Related to hornet: hornet sting

hor·net

(hôr′nĭt)

Any of various large stinging wasps of the family Vespidae, chiefly of the genera Vespa and Vespula, that characteristically build large papery nests.

[Middle English hornet, alteration (probably influenced by horn, horn) of hernet, from Old English hyrnet; see ker- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

hornet

(ˈhɔːnɪt)

1. (Animals) any of various large social wasps of the family Vespidae, esp Vespa crabro of Europe, that can inflict a severe sting

2. hornet's nest a strongly unfavourable reaction (often in the phrase stir up a hornet's nest)

[Old English hyrnetu; related to Old Saxon hornut, Old High German hornuz]

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

hor•net

(ˈhɔr nɪt)

n.

any large stinging paper wasp of the family Vespidae, as Vespa crabro, introduced into the U.S. from Europe, or Vespula maculata of North America.

[before 900; Middle English harnete, Old English hyrnet(u)]

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

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Noun

hornet - large stinging paper wasp

vespid, vespid wasp - mostly social nest-building wasps

giant hornet, Vespa crabro - European hornet introduced into the United States

bald-faced hornet, Vespula maculata, white-faced hornet - North American hornet

Vespula maculifrons, yellow hornet, yellow jacket - small yellow-marked social wasp commonly nesting in the ground

Translations

زُنْبور

стършел

sršeň

gedehamshveps

Hornisse

σφήκα

krabro

herhiläinen

frelon

lódarázs

vespa, geitungur

calabrone

crabro

širšė

sirsenis

hoornaar

geitehams

osaszerszeń

sršeň

sršen

eşek arısı eşekarısı

大黄蜂

hornet

[ˈhɔːnɪt] N → avispón m
to stir up a hornet's nest → armar mucho revuelo

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

hornet

[ˈhɔː^rnɪt] n → frelon m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

hornet

n → Hornisse f; to stir up a hornet’s nest (fig) → in ein Wespennest stechen

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

hornet

[ˈhɔːnɪt] n → calabrone m

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

hornet

(ˈhoːnit) noun

a kind of large wasp.

hornet

n. avispa, avispón.

hornet

n avispón m

References in classic literature ?

But the willow-wren sent down the hornet, with orders to settle beneath the fox's tail, and sting with all his might.

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We got a splendid stock of sorted spiders, and bugs, and frogs, and caterpillars, and one thing or another; and we like to got a hornet's nest, but we didn't.

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"Mother," said I, "take the whole and let's be going," for I was sure the bolted door must have seemed suspicious and would bring the whole hornet's nest about our ears, though how thankful I was that I had bolted it, none could tell who had never met that terrible blind man.

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"Oh, ho," he said, "a nest of revolutionists--and quite a hornet's nest it would seem.

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Back it came, with the editor's regrets, and Martin sent it to San Francisco again, this time to THE HORNET, a pretentious monthly that had been fanned into a constellation of the first magnitude by the brilliant journalist who founded it.

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Said Mang, "The village of the Man-Pack, where they cast out the Man-cub, hums like a hornet's nest."

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"I have a respect for you, but if you were alone in this business I'd think twice before I put my head into such a hornet's nest.

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We had a hornet's nest on our hands, and to stop at Collinsville would be to have it about our ears.

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Just as I thought that I had finished, and was only too glad that I had laid this question to sleep, and was reflecting how fortunate I was in your acceptance of what I then said, you ask me to begin again at the very foundation, ignorant of what a hornet's nest of words you are stirring.

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However, the chief offenders for the time were flogged and kept in bounds; but the victorious party had brought a nice hornet's nest about their ears.

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Imagine, if you can, a bald-faced hornet of your earthly experience grown to the size of a prize Hereford bull, and you will have some faint conception of the ferocious appearance and awesome formidability of the winged monster that bore down upon me.

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You'll be as mad as a hornet when I tell you, it's that simple; and for the life of me I can't understand why you don't already know it."