gad-been.
/ˈɡadbiː/, U.S. /ˈɡædˌbi/ Now rare.
Any of various parasitic flies which cause great agitation in the livestock on which they deposit eggs or inflict bites; = gadfly n. 1. Also figurative and in figurative contexts (cf. gadfly n. 2, 3).
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Diptera or flies > [noun] > suborder Brachycera > family Tabanidae > member of genus Tabanus (gadfly or horse-fly)
breezea800
stoutc1000
horsefly1382
gad-bee1510
gadfly1569
brimse1579
wag-leg1585
breeze-fly1587
breame1589
beast-fly1658
burrel-fly1658
whame1658
gad-breeze1665
bree1678
garabee1692
gad1830
thunderbug1837
ox-warble1840
March fly1852
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Diptera or flies > [noun] > member of > unspecified > parasite > that bites cattle
gad-bee1510
gadfly1569
garabee1692
the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Diptera or flies > [noun] > suborder Cyclorrhapha > family Oestridae > genus Oestrum or Oestrus > member of
breezea800
gad-bee1510
gadfly1569
gad-breeze1665
garabee1692
grey fly1752
trumpet-fly1752
botfly?a1775
bot-bee1825
1510 J. Stanbridge Vocabula (new ed.) sig. D.j Oestrum, the gad be.
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 223/2 Gadde be a flye, bourdon.
1593 G. Harvey Pierces Supererogation 142 The generation of rauing Poets, is a swarme of gad-bees.
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. 318 The bigger kind of bees..and this vermin is called Oestrus (i. the gad-bee or horse flie).
1603 H. Clapham Three Partes Salomon Song of Songs Expounded iii. xxxiv. 288 These often prooue gad-bees, flying vpon Gaddes hill, till they come to hang on Tyburne.
1631 tr. J. A. Comenius Porta Linguarum Reserata xix. §221 The cattell stung with a gadbee leaps or hops.
1701 Philos. Trans. 1700–1 (Royal Soc.) 22 948 I know not the example of one thing, which..is able to produce almost over the whole skin, inflamations, swellings, itching, and Pustules, as if the whole body were stung with an infinite number of Wasps or Gadbees.
1731 tr. Coluthus Rape of Helen 4 Like an heifer, when her back sustains Of biting gadbees the deep piercing pains.
1829 S. Glover Hist. County of Derby I. 177 Oestrus Curvicauda, Gadbee or Dun Fly.
1842 R. Browning Artemis Prologuizes in Bells & Pomegranates No. III: Dramatic Lyrics 9/1 A noisome lust that, as the gadbee stings, Possessed his stepdame.
1928 M. Moore Let. 29 July in Sel. Lett. (1997) 242 This week in the office has been a kind of rally day, devoid of prohibition; all incumbents feeling at liberty to play gad-bee & green fly.
1931 ‘M. J. Farrell’ Mad Puppetstown i. i. 24 The conversational possibilities of dirty flies and gad-bees at last exhausted, Easter cast her eyes upon the ground in ruminative silence.
1992 Mason County (Texas) News 22 Apr. 3/3 My mother who was a ‘stay at home’ always said I had been stung by a ‘Gad Bee’.
Phrases
† to have a gad-bee in one's brain: to be mentally disturbed. Cf. bee n.1 4a. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > health and disease > mental health > mental illness > be or become mad [verb (intransitive)]
dwelec900
wedec900
awedeeOE
starea1275
braidc1275
ravea1325
to be out of mindc1325
woodc1374
to lose one's mindc1380
madc1384
forgetc1385
to go out of one's minda1398
to wede (out) of, but wita1400
foolc1400
to go (also fall, run) mada1450
forcene1490
ragec1515
waltc1540
maddle?c1550
to go (also run, set) a-madding (or on madding)1565
pass of wita1616
to have a gad-bee in one's brain1682
madden1704
to go (also be) off at the nail1721
distract1768
craze1818
to get a rat1890
to need (to have) one's head examined (also checked, read)1896
(to have) bats in the belfryc1901
to have straws in one's hair1923
to take the bats1927
to go haywire1929
to go mental1930
to go troppo1941
to come apart1954
1682 A. Behn False Count ii. i. 24 What means he, sure he has a Gad-bee in his brain.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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