Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A mayfly, especially one of the family Ephemeridae.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In entomology, an insect of the family Ephemeridæ.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun zoology Any member of the Ephemeridae.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun short-lived insect

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From New Latin Ephēmeridae, former order name, from Greek ephēmeron, mayfly; see ephemeron.]

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Examples

  • Those who play a waiting game have matters more in their own hands, time gives them double chances; whereas if success does not come at once to the ephemerid he misses it altogether.

    The Note-Books of Samuel Butler Samuel Butler 1868

  • In fact, it's quite normal for Dutch scientific terminology to occur in pairs composed of a "difficult" and a homier variant: ephemerid can be translated as efemeride or as eendagsvlieg

    VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol X No 2 1983

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