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These microbes are then eaten by small invertebrates such as midge larvae and isopods, which are in turn preyed on by larger insects like spiders, beetles, and centipedes.—New Atlas, 5 Nov. 2025 From bacteria to midges to spiders, the entire system depends on chemical reactions that most living things would find lethal.—Alice Gibbs, MSNBC Newsweek, 5 Nov. 2025 The disease is transmitted by small flies called midge, and is not known to cause disease in humans.—Kirsten Fiscus, Nashville Tennessean, 5 Oct. 2025 The eye midge may have implanted itself elsewhere and there’s no telling where those other icky creatures from Prodigy’s labs have scurried off to, but those are questions that will no doubt be answered once/if FX announces a second season.—Lynette Rice, Deadline, 23 Sep. 2025 See All Example Sentences for midge
Word History
Etymology
Middle English migge, from Old English mycg; akin to Old High German mucka midge, Greek myia fly, Latin musca
First Known Use
before the 12th century, in the meaning defined above
Time Traveler
The first known use of midge was
before the 12th century
: any of numerous tiny dipteran flies (especially families Ceratopogonidae, Cecidomyiidae, and Chironomidae) many of which are capable of giving painful bites and some of which are vectors or intermediate hosts of parasites of humans and various other vertebrates see biting midge
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