bug chasern.
/ˈbʌɡ tʃeɪsə/, U.S. /ˈbəɡ ˌtʃeɪsər/ colloquial and slang (originally North American).
1. North American colloquial.
a. A person who studies or collects insects or other bugs (bug n.2 1); an entomologist. Often somewhat depreciative.In quot. 1889 used humorously as the position or title of such a person.
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the world > animals > zoology > study of specific types of animal > [noun] > insects > one who
insectologer1713
entomologist1772
insectologist1815
bugologist1848
bug hunter1856
bug chaser1889
1889 Makio (Ohio State Univ.) 9 110 Agricultural experiment sinecure... Beneficiaries..: Clarence M. Weed, Bug-Chaser and General Ornament... Bricky Evans, W.H. Baker.., [etc.], Assistants in Department of Entomology.
1916 Seventh Regiment Gaz. Oct.–Nov. 21/1 Naturalist Ed. Sell can catch spiders and tarantulas like a life-long bug-chaser.
1956 N.Y. Times 11 Mar. 120/2 A quietly relentless civilian bug chaser named Irving Waller..[is] chief entomologist in the Engineer Section.
1984 R. M. Pyle Audubon Soc. Handbk. for Butterfly Watchers xvi. 196 Most of the kids will go back to video games.., but they may retain a little..tolerance for their friends who remain dedicated bug-chasers.
2016 US Official News (Nexis) 6 Apr. The..Entomology Team, or ‘bug chasers’ as they are commonly known, normally focus on insects and arachnids that are either venomous or capable of transmitting disease.
b. A substance or device used to deter, control, or kill insects and other bugs (bug n.2 1); an insect repellent; an insecticide.Occasionally also (see quot. 19481): a person who eradicates insects and other bugs from a building, etc.
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the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > pest control > [noun] > devices or substances for destroying pests
hopperdozer1877
hexachlorethane1898
bug chaser1917
zapper1969
the world > physical sensation > cleanness and dirtiness > pest control > [noun] > devices or substances for repelling pests
repellant1819
screen1822
repellent1861
bug chaser1917
1917 Amer. Miller June 436/1 (advt.) ‘Bug chaser’ trunking brush..enables you to keep the trunks [of an elevator]..free from vermin.
1948 Better Homes & Gardens June 16/2 A local bug chaser..drives to your house..and fills your house with a ‘dry’ fog... No more bugs of any kind in your house for months.
1948 Amarillo (Texas) Sunday News-Globe 25 July 16/5 Rub the repellant on the inside of trouser legs, too... Be careful to wipe the bug chaser off your hands before you start fishing.
1966 MacGregor (Manitoba) Herald 20 Oct. 2/1 If aerosol insecticides and patent bug-chasers were absent, there were always the primitive but effective flyswatters and wire screening.
1988 St. Petersburg (Florida) Times (Nexis) 23 Nov. 2 On May 22, I ordered two electronic bug chasers.
2012 W. D. Storl Herbal Lore Wise Women & Wortcunners ix. 223 Herbs..can be used as bug chasers and fungus inhibitors.
2.
a. North American colloquial (usually depreciative). A person who studies or investigates bacteria, viruses, etc. (bug n.2 6), or the diseases caused by them; a microbiologist or epidemiologist.
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the world > life > biology > study > person who studies > [noun] > biology > branches of
micrographer1668
micrologist1855
biophysicist1860
microbiologist1885
phenologist1888
biometrician1901
biometricist1902
bug chaser1911
psychobiologist1914
biotechnologist1920
sociobiologist1920
bioengineer1931
biotechnician1940
developmental biologist1940
neurobiologist1942
radiobiologist1946
virologist1946
photobiologist1958
prebiologist1963
mycoplasmologist1966
chronobiologist1976
genomicist1995
1911 Buffalo Med. Jrnl. 66 448 The violent opposition of one official..to the employment of what he facetiously chose to call a ‘bug chaser’.
1927 Monthly Bull. Indiana State Board of Health Sept. 135/2 Among a clutter that could only be a bacteriologist's table ended the day-dream of a bug chaser.
1993 Los Angeles Times 1 Mar. e1/1 Bug-chasers don't become boat-rockers overnight, but Francis got there in a hurry.
b. slang. A person (esp. a homosexual man) who actively seeks infection with the HIV virus through unprotected sex with HIV-positive partners.
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1996 Darwin at Work in alt.tasteless (Usenet newsgroup) 7 July ‘A buddy and i are putting together a web site..for dudes who are into giving and getting poz cum..for bug chasers...’ Bug chasers! Is there a hanky color for that?
1997 Newsweek 29 Sept. 77/3 ‘I've met two people who were turned on by the idea of being infected,’ says Mark, an HIV-positive AIDS activist and frequent barebacker... There's a phrase to describe these men, too: bug chasers.
2005 Gay Times Dec. 112/1 Alternatively, there are bug-chasers. Can you believe it? People who actually want the virus? Some call it ‘The Gift’.
2011 L. Bersani in J. Goldberg & M. Moon After Sex? 106 Many barebackers (not the self-confessed bug-chasers) prefer not to know the hiv status of their partners.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, June 2017; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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n.1889