midgyn.
/ˈmɪdʒi/, U.S. /ˈmɪdʒi/, Scottish English /ˈmɪdʒɪ/ Scottish, English regional (northern), and U.S. regional (north-eastern).
1. A midge. Dict. Amer. Regional Eng., at midge, records the plural midgies as an oral response to the question ‘a very tiny fly that you can hardly see, but that bites’ from respondents in the north-eastern United States in 1965–70.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Diptera or flies > [noun] > suborder Nematocera > family Chironomidae > member of (midge)
midgeeOE
thunderbug1837
curse1889
midgy1893
chironomid1925
1893 R. O. Heslop Northumberland Words Midgy, a midget, a gnat. ‘Bitten aal all [sic] ower wi midgies.’
1900 Shetland News 23 June 7/1 If ony thing elt hir [sc. a cow], hit wis da midgies. Der horrid!
1990 J. Byrne Your Cheatin' Heart vi. 160/1 It's a bullet wound, no' a midgie bite.
1991 Times 7 Aug. 3/7 Their faces were red and swollen from midgy bites.
1994 J. Galloway Foreign Parts xi. 173 Midgies will blow into the mashed potatoes but what the hell. Yes we can have dinner outside.
1997 A. Warner These Demented Lands 153 Driven demented by midgie bites.
2. Mining. = mistress n. 15. Cf. midge n. 6. Now historical. Eng. Dial. Dict. at midgey sb. records use in Northumberland and Durham.Quot. 1849 in N.E.D. seems to be based on a misunderstanding of the entry for Midgy in Eng. Dial. Dict. The 1849 ed. of G. C. Greenwell Gloss. Terms Coal Trade is not available, but ed. 2 (1851) has the definition quoted in N.E.D. at Mistress, not at Midgy (see quot. 18492 at mistress n. 15).
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the world > matter > light > artificial light > an artificial light > [noun] > lamp > lantern > types of
sconcec1392
Muscovy lantern1606
sconcer1731
talc light1808
stirrup lantern1824
mistress1848
bull's-eye1851
midgy1893
1893 R. O. Heslop Northumberland Words Midgy, a candle lantern, closed at back and sides only: used by putters and drivers in a pit.
1896 F. M. T. Palsgrave List Words & Phrases Hetton-le-Hole (at cited word) The ‘midgy’ has now gone out of use.
1933 H. Orton Phonol. S. Durham Dial. 35 Short [i] occurs in the following words which..are of obscure origin... [midži], an open lamp for use in coal mines (see midgy sb., NED.).
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
midgyadj.
/ˈmɪdʒi/, U.S. /ˈmɪdʒi/ Chiefly poetic.
Consisting of or characterized by midges.
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1806 J. Grahame Birds Scotl. ii. 65 When dance the midgy clouds in warping maze Confused.
1892 A. Austin Fortunatus Pessimist ii. viii. 143 The bat leaves belfry lath And about the midgy air Flitters for its midnight fare.
1970 B. Bunting Compl. Poems 126 Where beast cool In midgy shimmer She dares me chase Under a bridge.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2002; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.1893adj.1806