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Silver-gray wingless insect found in houses feeding on book bindings and starched clothing
Answer for the clue "Silver-gray wingless insect found in houses feeding on book bindings and starched clothing ", 10 letters:
silverfish
Alternative clues for the word silverfish
Word definitions for silverfish in dictionaries
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Word definitions in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
noun EXAMPLES FROM CORPUS ▪ Appraised value: Ask the silverfish . ▪ In the bathroom I saw silverfish . ▪ Polly wiped the silverfish off the breadboard and started to cry. ▪ The silverfish , for example, has compound eyes but others in the group are blind. ...
The Collaborative International Dictionary
Word definitions in The Collaborative International Dictionary
Lepisma \Le*pis"ma\ (l[-e]*p[i^]z"m[.a]), n. [NL., fr. Gr. le`pisma peel, fr. lepi`s -i`dos, a scale.] (Zo["o]l.) A genus of wingless thysanurous insects having an elongated flattened body, covered with shining scales and terminated by seven unequal bristles. ...
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
Word definitions in Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
1703, in reference to various types of silver-colored fish (similar formation in German Silberfisch , Dutch zilvervisch ); from silver (adj.) + fish (n.). In reference to a type of household insect damaging to books, wallpaper, etc. (also known as silvertail ...
Wikipedia
Word definitions in Wikipedia
A silverfish ( Lepisma saccharina ) is a small, wingless insect in the order Thysanura . Its common name derives from the animal's silvery light grey and blue color, combined with the fish-like appearance of its movements, while the scientific name ( L. ...
WordNet
Word definitions in WordNet
n. silver-gray wingless insect found in houses feeding on book bindings and starched clothing [syn: Lepisma saccharina ] a silvery variety of Carassius auratus [also: silverfishes (pl)]
Usage examples of silverfish.
I slid off the bed and shook my shoes, dislodging a small roach and a couple of silverfish who had taken shelter in the toes.
The picture became a darkened living room where Poopi Silverfish lounged on an overstuffed couch catercorner with a settee on which a redheaded figure sat sprawled.
The herb santolina, sometimes called lavender cotton, can also be put among books to deter insects like Silverfish.
Boric acid is one of the most effective and safest ways to bait cockroaches and can also be used for ants, crickets, Silverfish, termites and caterpillars.
In the silence, his hyperacute sense of hearing picked up a very faint scratching: colonies of silverfish, gorging their way through an endless supply of pulp.
Then south and west, past the Gray Horn, out into Silverfish Deeps and on, down to Pebble Fleet.
The silverfish, known to insect fans as Lepisma saccharina, enjoys starch as the main staple of its diet.