The Collaborative International Dictionary
Cantharides \Can*thar"i*des\ (k[a^]n*th[a^]r"[i^]*d[=e]z), n. pl. See Cantharis.
Cantharis \Can"tha*ris\ (k[a^]n"th[.a]*r[i^]s), n.; pl. Cantharides (k[a^]n*th[a^]r"[i^]*d[=e]z). [L., a kind of beetle, esp. the Spanish fly, Gr. kanqari`s.] (Zo["o]l.) A beetle ( Lytta vesicatoria, syn. Cantharis vesicatoria), having an elongated cylindrical body of a brilliant green color, and a nauseous odor; the blister fly or blister beetle, of the apothecary; -- also called Spanish fly. Many other species of Lytta, used for the same purpose, take the same name. See Blister beetle, under Blister. The plural form in usually applied to the dried insects used in medicine.
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context entomology English) (taxlink Cantharides genus noshow=1), a genus of coleopterous insects, formerly also taken to include aphids. 2 Spanish fly, a vesicant extracted from the beetle (taxlink Lytta vesicatoria species noshow=1) (alternatively classified ''Cantharis vesicatoria''), popularly held to have aphrodisiac properties.
Usage examples of "cantharides".
Geotrupes, the emerald of the rose-beetle, the gilded green of the Cantharides, the metallic lustre of the gardener-beetles, and all the pomp of the Buprestes and the dung-beetles.
Metallic Tractors should in a few minutes remove violent pains, as we now know why cantharides and opium will produce opposite effects, namely, we shall know very little about either excepting facts.
He displayed his erudition, cited pell-mell cantharides, upas, the manchineel, vipers.
Carefully kept account books of her personal expenses were mixed up with billets dous, paints and pomades, moneylenders' circulars, bella-donna and cantharides.
All the species of Ranunculus, except the Water Crowfoot, are acrid, and before the introduction of Cantharides (Spanish Fly), many, especially R.