pismiren.

Brit.

/ˈpɪsˌmʌɪə/, U.S.

/ˈpɪsˌmaɪ(ə)r/,

/ˈpɪzˌmaɪ(ə)r/

Forms:

α. Middle English pissemyre, Middle English pissmyre, Middle English pyssemyer, Middle English pyssemyre, Middle English spissemire (transmission error), Middle English–1500s pismyer, Middle English–1500s pismyre, Middle English–1600s pysmyre, Middle English– pismire, 1500s pismyr, 1500s pissemyer, 1500s 1900s– pissmire, 1500s–1600s pismier, 1600s pissemire, 1600s pysmire, 1900s– pishmire (Irish English (northern)), 1900s– pissamire (U.S. regional (north-eastern)); English regional 1800s pissemire (northern), 1800s pissemyre (northern), 1800s– passimire (northern), 1800s– pishemire (East Anglian), 1800s– pishmire (East Anglian), 1800s– pissimire (northern), 1800s– pushmire (East Anglian), 1900s– pissymire (northern); also Welsh English 1900s– pissamire, 1900s– pissymire; N.E.D. (1907) also records a form late Middle English pysmire.

β. Middle English pisschemer, Middle English pissemer, Middle English pysmer, Middle English–1500s pismer, Middle English–1500s pysmere, Middle English–1600s pismere, 1500s pismeare, 1500s pismeere, 1500s pissemare, 1500s pysemer, 1500s pysmar, 1500s pysmare, 1500s pysmarie, 1500s pyssemare, 1500s pyssemer, 1500s pyssemere, 1600s pisimer; English regional 1800s pissmere, 1800s– passimere (northern), 1800s– pishemeer (East Anglian), 1800s– pissimer (northern), 1800s– pissmare (northern), 1900s– pishamer (East Anglian), 1900s– pissamare (northern), 1900s– pissamer (northern), 1900s– pissymer (northern); Scottish 1900s– pishmere; N.E.D. (1907) also records a form late Middle English pyssemere.

γ. Middle English pismoure, Middle English pissemore, Middle English pysmour, Middle English pyssmowre; English regional (northern) 1800s pissymoor, 1800s– pisamoor, 1800s– pismyour, 1800s– pissamoor, 1800s– pissymyour, 1900s– pissemyore, 1900s– pissiemoor, 1900s– pissymoo, 1900s– pissymoor, 1900s– pissymower; Scottish pre-1700 pismore.

Origin: Formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: piss n., mire n.²

Etymology: < piss n. + mire n.²; so called on account of the urinous smell of an anthill. Compare early modern Dutch pismiere (Dutch regional (Groningen) pisoamer ), German regional (Low German) pißmier , Swedish pissmyra (1734). The reason for the vowel variation shown by the second element in the β. forms is uncertain. The γ. forms show substitution of maur n. (or possibly a parallel formation in that word). Compare later pissant n.Compare similar names for the ant in other Germanic languages: Frisian pisameler (also †pis-imme , †pis-emme (16th cent.), compare emmet n.), German regional (Low German) miegeemk (compare miegen to urinate: see mighe v.; compare emmet n.), Norwegian regional migemaur (compare miga to urinate: see mighe v.), early modern Dutch mierseycke (compare seycke urine: see sig n.¹). Compare also Finnish kusiainen (compare kusi urine). Compare also related words in regional varieties of English, e.g. (in northern Ireland) pishmug , pishmucker , (in northern Ireland and Scotland) pishmould , pishmool , (in northern Ireland, Scotland, and northern England) pishmither , pissimudder , pissymother , (in south-west Scotland) pishminnie , (in Lancashire, in plural) pissmice , which perhaps all ultimately represent alterations by folk etymology after a variety of other words (compare e.g. muck n.¹, mould n.¹, mother n.¹, minnie n.¹, mouse n.). Apparently attested earlier as a surname: Henricus pessemere (1327); compare also Warinus Pissimerus (c1210).

Now regional.

1. An ant.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Hymenoptera > [noun] > suborder Apocrita, Petiolata, or Heterophaga > group Aculeata (stinging) > ant

anteOE

emmeteOE

mirea1300

maur1366

pismirec1395

formice1484

merpyss1527

calicrat?1590

pissant1649

formica1865

muryan1865

macraner1907

α.

c1395 G. Chaucer Summoner's Tale 1825 He is as angry as a pissemyre [v.r. pismyre].

a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Prov. vi. 6 Thou slowe man, go to the amte, ether pissemyre [v.rr. pismire, spissemire]; and biholde thou hise weies.

?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 200 Þeise pissemyres [Fr. fformicez] ben grete as houndes, so þat noman dar come to þo hilles, for the Pissemyres wolde assayllen hem & deuouren hem anon.

c1465 Care of Horses (Yale Beinecke 163) f. 54 The kankere in the Eye..congeleth a worme as it hit [sic] were the hede of a pismere.

1560 Bible (Geneva) Prov. vi. 6 Goe to the pismire, o sluggard.

1575 G. Gascoigne Noble Arte Venerie lxi. 173 These Pissemyers..will driue them out.

1617 R. Fenton Treat. Church Rome 100 Sent..by Solomon to the Conies and Pismiers for wisedome and prouidence.

1676 M. Hale Contempl. Moral & Divine i. 468 I have seen a Republick of Pismires with great circumspection choosing the seat of their Residence, and every one carrying his Egg and Provisions to their common Store-house.

1737 J. Brickell Nat. Hist. N.-Carolina 158 The Pismire or Ant, is a..wise insect.

1789 D. Davidson Thoughts Seasons 11 Vernal warmths, Descending, rouse the pismires.

1827 T. Hood Plea Midsummer Fairies lv, in Plea Midsummer Fairies & Other Poems 28 The pismire's care to garner up his wheat.

1850 R. W. Emerson Swedenborg in Representative Men iii. 145 Though I be dog, or jackal, or pismire, in the last rudiments of nature.

1950 A. Clarke Coll. Plays (1963) 285 This place is full of pissmires And woodlice.

1996 C. I. Macafee Conc. Ulster Dict. 254/2 Pismire, the ant.

2000 Birmingham (Alabama) News (Nexis) 11 June A man who can..blow a pismire off the side of a jack oak at 90 yards and never touch the bark.

β. Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 402 Pysmere, formica.a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (BL Add. 9066) (1879) 372 Pissemers in somere are besy, and rennyn faste aboute to make an hepe stuffed with whete.1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde iii. ix. f. 139 Pyssemares swarmynge owte of an ante hyll.1596 T. Nashe Haue with you to Saffron-Walden sig. G3^v Cyphers or round oos, lyke pismeeres egges.1623 in C. Butler Feminine Monarchie (rev. ed.) sig. A2 That the Pismere, and these Hony-flies, Instruct vs better to Philosophize.a1661 W. Brereton Trav. (1844) 73 Eggs..hatched under an hen, fed with pisimers.1868 J. C. Atkinson Gloss. Cleveland Dial. 374 Passimere, the pismire, ant, or emmet.1980 P. Wright Yorkshireman's Dict. (1981) at Pissimer A pissimer's stinged..mi lip.γ. c1440 (?c1350) in G. G. Perry Relig. Pieces in Prose & Verse (1914) 22 (MED) For mare vs availes, till oure ensampill and Edifycacione, þe werkes of þe pyssmowre þan dose þe strenghe of þe lyone or of þe bere.?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 96 A Pysmour [1483 BL Add. 89074 Pismoure], formica, formicula, mirmites.a1525 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1923) I. 167/2 Thar is the hillis of gold that pismores kepis.1886 H. Cunliffe Gloss. Rochdale-with-Rossendale Words & Phrases 67 Pisamoor, the ant.1887 T. Darlington Folk-speech S. Cheshire 294 Pismyour, pissmyour, the ant.

2. derogatory. An insignificant person; a person exhibiting behaviour or habits usually associated with the ant.

ΘΚΠ

the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > inferior person > [noun] > held in contempt

thingOE

cat?c1225

geggea1300

fox-whelpc1320

creaturea1325

whelp1338

scoutc1380

turnbroach14..

foumart1508

shit1508

get?a1513

strummel?a1513

scofting?1518

pismirea1535

clinchpoop1555

rag1566

huddle and twang1578

whipster1590

slop1599

shullocka1603

tailor1607

turnspit1607

fitchewa1616

bulchin1617

trundle-taila1626

tick1631

louse1633

fart1669

insect1684

mully-grub-gurgeon1746

grub-worm1752

rass1790

foutre1794

blister1806

snot1809

skin1825

scurf1851

scut1873

Siwash1882

stiff1882

bleeder1887

blighter1896

sugar1916

vuilgoed1924

klunk1942

fart sack1943

fart-arse1946

jerkwad1980

a1535 T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) ii. xvii. sig. L.ii We..ouerloke..suche other poore soules as were peraduenture wont to be our fellowes, for sely poore pismyres & antes.

1569 J. Sanford tr. H. C. Agrippa Of Vanitie Artes & Sci. 13 b The pismers of Mirmidones.

1601 J. Weever Mirror of Martyrs sig. Cij Now are we dwarfs, they [sc. our issue] will be pismires then, This is the fumbling of our aged men.

1653 J. Hall Paradoxes 50 Wee poore pismires that crawle upon this hill.

1790 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall XII. lxv. 18 Thou art no more than a pismire.

1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian vii, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. II. 161 To rid the land of the swarm of Arminian caterpillars, Socinian pismires, and deistical Miss Katies, that have ascended out of the bottomless pit.

1840 H. Grote Let. 12 Apr. in Lewin Lett. (1909) I. ii. 362 Morality to my notion is a far wider and nobler sentiment based on purest motives of benificence, and I defy the pismires!

1938 L. D'Alton Man in Cloak in Two Irish Plays 32 Ye know nothin'..y'are nothin'..ye little pismire.

2003 Rocky Mountain News (Denver) (Nexis) 19 Dec. 45 a Bitter, petty little pismires like this letter writer, who is devoid of vision and rendered incoherent by his irrational anger.

Compounds

C1. General attributive, as †pismire-bed, pismire class, pismire instinct, †pismire-sage, etc.

ΚΠ

1668 N. Culpeper & A. Cole tr. J. Walaeus Two Epist. (new ed.) in tr. T. Bartholin Anat. (new ed.) 369 That..the pulse of the arteries is caused by the Impulse of Blood, the waving, creeping, pismire pulses seem to show.

1760–1 C. Lennox Lady's Museum No. 10. xxxvii The formica-leo, or lion-pismire..bears no resemblance to the pismire class.

1838 Times 13 Jan. 4/1 Mr. Pouncy, whose pismire instincts had been so active in undermining Sir Francis.

a1849 T. L. Beddoes Death's Jest-bk. ii. i, in Poems (1851) II. 41 I shall shoot up gigantic out of this pismire shape, and hurl the bolt of that revenge.

1875 R. Browning Aristophanes' Apol. in Poet. Wks. (1888–94) XIII. 47 Ere earwig-sophist plagued or pismire-sage, Cockered no noddle up with A, b, g, Book-learning, logic-chopping, and the moon.

a1903 B. Kirkby in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1903) IV. 523/2 [Westmoreland] That hill's a pissamer-bed.

a1968 T. Merton Coll. Poems (1977) App. ii. 694 The wise pismire emperor shall be With blind mole for secretary.

1993 Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) (Nexis) 26 Mar. 26 a Other pismire dictators we've never even heard of probably would decide they need some plutonium.

C2.

† pismire-eater n. Obsolete = anteater n. 1a.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > mammals > order Edentata > [noun] > family Myrmecophagidae (ant-eater)

anteater1668

pismire-eater1704

1704 tr. J. Nieuhof Voy. Brasil in A. Churchill & J. Churchill Coll. Voy. II. 19 The pismire-eater is thus called because he feeds upon..pismires.

1780 W. Smellie tr. Comte de Buffon Nat. Hist. Gen. & Particular VIII. Index 345 Pismire eater.

† pismire eggs n. Obsolete = ant egg n. at ant n.¹ Compounds 2.

ΚΠ

?c1450 in G. Müller Aus Mittelengl. Medizintexten (1929) 137 Take..pisschemeriseyren and rewe-lewys, and stampe alle to-gedere.]

1527 L. Andrewe tr. H. Brunschwig Vertuose Boke Distyllacyon sig. Bij^v A flatte..botell of glas..ful of roses or other floures, or pyssemer eggys.

† pismire-fly n. Obsolete = ant-fly n.

ΚΠ

1670 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 5 1152 At the bottom of some of the Leaves..is a knob, which is hollow, and a certain fly, some-what like a pis-mire-fly, is bred therein.

1799 tr. Laboratory (ed. 6) II. x. 311 The pismire-fly..is deemed a good fly.

pismire hill n. (also pismire's hill) now regional = anthill n. 1a; (also, in quot. 1781) = anthill n. 2.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Hymenoptera > [noun] > suborder Apocrita, Petiolata, or Heterophaga > group Aculeata (stinging) > ant > that form ant-hills > ant-hill

anthilleOE

ant bedeOE

pismire hill1440

maur-hill?c1475

maur house?c1475

ant heap1591

molehill1610

ant-hillock1656

bank1667

sprout hill1766

formicary1816

ant mound1830

formicarium1834

Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 402 Pysmeryshylle, formicarium.

1483 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 89074) (1881) 281 A Pismoure hylle, formicecarium.

1652 R. Carpenter Perfect-law of God 104 They creep out of their holes, and run here and there in Multitudes; as animates Pulvisculus, the living and busie Dust yonder on the Pismire-Hill.

1781 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 71 149 See a figure of one of those nests in Salmon's Universal Traveller, in the map of Gambia, where it is called a Pismire Hill.

1808 J. Cottle Fall of Cambria II. xviii. 83 All my eminence Sank to a Pismire's hill.

1821 J. Clare Village Minstrel I. 203 Where the pismire hills abound.

a1903 W. Heckley in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1903) IV. 523/2 She must 'ev been rowling in a pissimire hill to git so mony on to her.

1953 M. Traynor Eng. Dial. Donegal 213/1 Pismire-hill, an anthill.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online June 2022).

单词	pismire
释义	pismiren. Brit. /ˈpɪsˌmʌɪə/, U.S. /ˈpɪsˌmaɪ(ə)r/, /ˈpɪzˌmaɪ(ə)r/ Forms: α. Middle English pissemyre, Middle English pissmyre, Middle English pyssemyer, Middle English pyssemyre, Middle English spissemire (transmission error), Middle English–1500s pismyer, Middle English–1500s pismyre, Middle English–1600s pysmyre, Middle English– pismire, 1500s pismyr, 1500s pissemyer, 1500s 1900s– pissmire, 1500s–1600s pismier, 1600s pissemire, 1600s pysmire, 1900s– pishmire (Irish English (northern)), 1900s– pissamire (U.S. regional (north-eastern)); English regional 1800s pissemire (northern), 1800s pissemyre (northern), 1800s– passimire (northern), 1800s– pishemire (East Anglian), 1800s– pishmire (East Anglian), 1800s– pissimire (northern), 1800s– pushmire (East Anglian), 1900s– pissymire (northern); also Welsh English 1900s– pissamire, 1900s– pissymire; N.E.D. (1907) also records a form late Middle English pysmire. β. Middle English pisschemer, Middle English pissemer, Middle English pysmer, Middle English–1500s pismer, Middle English–1500s pysmere, Middle English–1600s pismere, 1500s pismeare, 1500s pismeere, 1500s pissemare, 1500s pysemer, 1500s pysmar, 1500s pysmare, 1500s pysmarie, 1500s pyssemare, 1500s pyssemer, 1500s pyssemere, 1600s pisimer; English regional 1800s pissmere, 1800s– passimere (northern), 1800s– pishemeer (East Anglian), 1800s– pissimer (northern), 1800s– pissmare (northern), 1900s– pishamer (East Anglian), 1900s– pissamare (northern), 1900s– pissamer (northern), 1900s– pissymer (northern); Scottish 1900s– pishmere; N.E.D. (1907) also records a form late Middle English pyssemere. γ. Middle English pismoure, Middle English pissemore, Middle English pysmour, Middle English pyssmowre; English regional (northern) 1800s pissymoor, 1800s– pisamoor, 1800s– pismyour, 1800s– pissamoor, 1800s– pissymyour, 1900s– pissemyore, 1900s– pissiemoor, 1900s– pissymoo, 1900s– pissymoor, 1900s– pissymower; Scottish pre-1700 pismore. Origin: Formed within English, by compounding. Etymons: piss n., mire n.² Etymology: < piss n. + mire n.²; so called on account of the urinous smell of an anthill. Compare early modern Dutch pismiere (Dutch regional (Groningen) pisoamer ), German regional (Low German) pißmier , Swedish pissmyra (1734). The reason for the vowel variation shown by the second element in the β. forms is uncertain. The γ. forms show substitution of maur n. (or possibly a parallel formation in that word). Compare later pissant n.Compare similar names for the ant in other Germanic languages: Frisian pisameler (also †pis-imme , †pis-emme (16th cent.), compare emmet n.), German regional (Low German) miegeemk (compare miegen to urinate: see mighe v.; compare emmet n.), Norwegian regional migemaur (compare miga to urinate: see mighe v.), early modern Dutch mierseycke (compare seycke urine: see sig n.¹). Compare also Finnish kusiainen (compare kusi urine). Compare also related words in regional varieties of English, e.g. (in northern Ireland) pishmug , pishmucker , (in northern Ireland and Scotland) pishmould , pishmool , (in northern Ireland, Scotland, and northern England) pishmither , pissimudder , pissymother , (in south-west Scotland) pishminnie , (in Lancashire, in plural) pissmice , which perhaps all ultimately represent alterations by folk etymology after a variety of other words (compare e.g. muck n.¹, mould n.¹, mother n.¹, minnie n.¹, mouse n.). Apparently attested earlier as a surname: Henricus pessemere (1327); compare also Warinus Pissimerus (c1210). Now regional. 1. An ant. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Hymenoptera > [noun] > suborder Apocrita, Petiolata, or Heterophaga > group Aculeata (stinging) > ant anteOE emmeteOE mirea1300 maur1366 pismirec1395 formice1484 merpyss1527 calicrat?1590 pissant1649 formica1865 muryan1865 macraner1907 α. c1395 G. Chaucer Summoner's Tale 1825 He is as angry as a pissemyre [v.r. pismyre]. a1425 (c1395) Bible (Wycliffite, L.V.) (Royal) (1850) Prov. vi. 6 Thou slowe man, go to the amte, ether pissemyre [v.rr. pismire, spissemire]; and biholde thou hise weies. ?a1425 (c1400) Mandeville's Trav. (Titus C.xvi) (1919) 200 Þeise pissemyres [Fr. fformicez] ben grete as houndes, so þat noman dar come to þo hilles, for the Pissemyres wolde assayllen hem & deuouren hem anon. c1465 Care of Horses (Yale Beinecke 163) f. 54 The kankere in the Eye..congeleth a worme as it hit [sic] were the hede of a pismere. 1560 Bible (Geneva) Prov. vi. 6 Goe to the pismire, o sluggard. 1575 G. Gascoigne Noble Arte Venerie lxi. 173 These Pissemyers..will driue them out. 1617 R. Fenton Treat. Church Rome 100 Sent..by Solomon to the Conies and Pismiers for wisedome and prouidence. 1676 M. Hale Contempl. Moral & Divine i. 468 I have seen a Republick of Pismires with great circumspection choosing the seat of their Residence, and every one carrying his Egg and Provisions to their common Store-house. 1737 J. Brickell Nat. Hist. N.-Carolina 158 The Pismire or Ant, is a..wise insect. 1789 D. Davidson Thoughts Seasons 11 Vernal warmths, Descending, rouse the pismires. 1827 T. Hood Plea Midsummer Fairies lv, in Plea Midsummer Fairies & Other Poems 28 The pismire's care to garner up his wheat. 1850 R. W. Emerson Swedenborg in Representative Men iii. 145 Though I be dog, or jackal, or pismire, in the last rudiments of nature. 1950 A. Clarke Coll. Plays (1963) 285 This place is full of pissmires And woodlice. 1996 C. I. Macafee Conc. Ulster Dict. 254/2 Pismire, the ant. 2000 Birmingham (Alabama) News (Nexis) 11 June A man who can..blow a pismire off the side of a jack oak at 90 yards and never touch the bark. β. Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 402 Pysmere, formica.a1500 (?a1450) Gesta Romanorum (BL Add. 9066) (1879) 372 Pissemers in somere are besy, and rennyn faste aboute to make an hepe stuffed with whete.1555 R. Eden tr. Peter Martyr of Angleria Decades of Newe Worlde iii. ix. f. 139 Pyssemares swarmynge owte of an ante hyll.1596 T. Nashe Haue with you to Saffron-Walden sig. G3^v Cyphers or round oos, lyke pismeeres egges.1623 in C. Butler Feminine Monarchie (rev. ed.) sig. A2 That the Pismere, and these Hony-flies, Instruct vs better to Philosophize.a1661 W. Brereton Trav. (1844) 73 Eggs..hatched under an hen, fed with pisimers.1868 J. C. Atkinson Gloss. Cleveland Dial. 374 Passimere, the pismire, ant, or emmet.1980 P. Wright Yorkshireman's Dict. (1981) at Pissimer A pissimer's stinged..mi lip.γ. c1440 (?c1350) in G. G. Perry Relig. Pieces in Prose & Verse (1914) 22 (MED) For mare vs availes, till oure ensampill and Edifycacione, þe werkes of þe pyssmowre þan dose þe strenghe of þe lyone or of þe bere.?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 96 A Pysmour [1483 BL Add. 89074 Pismoure], formica, formicula, mirmites.a1525 in W. A. Craigie Asloan MS (1923) I. 167/2 Thar is the hillis of gold that pismores kepis.1886 H. Cunliffe Gloss. Rochdale-with-Rossendale Words & Phrases 67 Pisamoor, the ant.1887 T. Darlington Folk-speech S. Cheshire 294 Pismyour, pissmyour, the ant. 2. derogatory. An insignificant person; a person exhibiting behaviour or habits usually associated with the ant. ΘΚΠ the mind > goodness and badness > inferiority or baseness > inferior person > [noun] > held in contempt thingOE cat?c1225 geggea1300 fox-whelpc1320 creaturea1325 whelp1338 scoutc1380 turnbroach14.. foumart1508 shit1508 get?a1513 strummel?a1513 scofting?1518 pismirea1535 clinchpoop1555 rag1566 huddle and twang1578 whipster1590 slop1599 shullocka1603 tailor1607 turnspit1607 fitchewa1616 bulchin1617 trundle-taila1626 tick1631 louse1633 fart1669 insect1684 mully-grub-gurgeon1746 grub-worm1752 rass1790 foutre1794 blister1806 snot1809 skin1825 scurf1851 scut1873 Siwash1882 stiff1882 bleeder1887 blighter1896 sugar1916 vuilgoed1924 klunk1942 fart sack1943 fart-arse1946 jerkwad1980 a1535 T. More Dialoge of Comfort (1553) ii. xvii. sig. L.ii We..ouerloke..suche other poore soules as were peraduenture wont to be our fellowes, for sely poore pismyres & antes. 1569 J. Sanford tr. H. C. Agrippa Of Vanitie Artes & Sci. 13 b The pismers of Mirmidones. 1601 J. Weever Mirror of Martyrs sig. Cij Now are we dwarfs, they [sc. our issue] will be pismires then, This is the fumbling of our aged men. 1653 J. Hall Paradoxes 50 Wee poore pismires that crawle upon this hill. 1790 E. Gibbon Decline & Fall XII. lxv. 18 Thou art no more than a pismire. 1818 W. Scott Heart of Mid-Lothian vii, in Tales of my Landlord 2nd Ser. II. 161 To rid the land of the swarm of Arminian caterpillars, Socinian pismires, and deistical Miss Katies, that have ascended out of the bottomless pit. 1840 H. Grote Let. 12 Apr. in Lewin Lett. (1909) I. ii. 362 Morality to my notion is a far wider and nobler sentiment based on purest motives of benificence, and I defy the pismires! 1938 L. D'Alton Man in Cloak in Two Irish Plays 32 Ye know nothin'..y'are nothin'..ye little pismire. 2003 Rocky Mountain News (Denver) (Nexis) 19 Dec. 45 a Bitter, petty little pismires like this letter writer, who is devoid of vision and rendered incoherent by his irrational anger. Compounds C1. General attributive, as †pismire-bed, pismire class, pismire instinct, †pismire-sage, etc. ΚΠ 1668 N. Culpeper & A. Cole tr. J. Walaeus Two Epist. (new ed.) in tr. T. Bartholin Anat. (new ed.) 369 That..the pulse of the arteries is caused by the Impulse of Blood, the waving, creeping, pismire pulses seem to show. 1760–1 C. Lennox Lady's Museum No. 10. xxxvii The formica-leo, or lion-pismire..bears no resemblance to the pismire class. 1838 Times 13 Jan. 4/1 Mr. Pouncy, whose pismire instincts had been so active in undermining Sir Francis. a1849 T. L. Beddoes Death's Jest-bk. ii. i, in Poems (1851) II. 41 I shall shoot up gigantic out of this pismire shape, and hurl the bolt of that revenge. 1875 R. Browning Aristophanes' Apol. in Poet. Wks. (1888–94) XIII. 47 Ere earwig-sophist plagued or pismire-sage, Cockered no noddle up with A, b, g, Book-learning, logic-chopping, and the moon. a1903 B. Kirkby in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1903) IV. 523/2 [Westmoreland] That hill's a pissamer-bed. a1968 T. Merton Coll. Poems (1977) App. ii. 694 The wise pismire emperor shall be With blind mole for secretary. 1993 Sun-Sentinel (Fort Lauderdale, Florida) (Nexis) 26 Mar. 26 a Other pismire dictators we've never even heard of probably would decide they need some plutonium. C2. † pismire-eater n. Obsolete = anteater n. 1a. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > mammals > order Edentata > [noun] > family Myrmecophagidae (ant-eater) anteater1668 pismire-eater1704 1704 tr. J. Nieuhof Voy. Brasil in A. Churchill & J. Churchill Coll. Voy. II. 19 The pismire-eater is thus called because he feeds upon..pismires. 1780 W. Smellie tr. Comte de Buffon Nat. Hist. Gen. & Particular VIII. Index 345 Pismire eater. † pismire eggs n. Obsolete = ant egg n. at ant n.¹ Compounds 2. ΚΠ ?c1450 in G. Müller Aus Mittelengl. Medizintexten (1929) 137 Take..pisschemeriseyren and rewe-lewys, and stampe alle to-gedere.] 1527 L. Andrewe tr. H. Brunschwig Vertuose Boke Distyllacyon sig. Bij^v A flatte..botell of glas..ful of roses or other floures, or pyssemer eggys. † pismire-fly n. Obsolete = ant-fly n. ΚΠ 1670 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 5 1152 At the bottom of some of the Leaves..is a knob, which is hollow, and a certain fly, some-what like a pis-mire-fly, is bred therein. 1799 tr. Laboratory (ed. 6) II. x. 311 The pismire-fly..is deemed a good fly. pismire hill n. (also pismire's hill) now regional = anthill n. 1a; (also, in quot. 1781) = anthill n. 2. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Hymenoptera > [noun] > suborder Apocrita, Petiolata, or Heterophaga > group Aculeata (stinging) > ant > that form ant-hills > ant-hill anthilleOE ant bedeOE pismire hill1440 maur-hill?c1475 maur house?c1475 ant heap1591 molehill1610 ant-hillock1656 bank1667 sprout hill1766 formicary1816 ant mound1830 formicarium1834 Promptorium Parvulorum (Harl. 221) 402 Pysmeryshylle, formicarium. 1483 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 89074) (1881) 281 A Pismoure hylle, formicecarium. 1652 R. Carpenter Perfect-law of God 104 They creep out of their holes, and run here and there in Multitudes; as animates Pulvisculus, the living and busie Dust yonder on the Pismire-Hill. 1781 Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 71 149 See a figure of one of those nests in Salmon's Universal Traveller, in the map of Gambia, where it is called a Pismire Hill. 1808 J. Cottle Fall of Cambria II. xviii. 83 All my eminence Sank to a Pismire's hill. 1821 J. Clare Village Minstrel I. 203 Where the pismire hills abound. a1903 W. Heckley in Eng. Dial. Dict. (1903) IV. 523/2 She must 'ev been rowling in a pissimire hill to git so mony on to her. 1953 M. Traynor Eng. Dial. Donegal 213/1 Pismire-hill, an anthill. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2006; most recently modified version published online June 2022). < n.c1395
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