ant
/ant
/noun
A small insect typically having a sting and living in a complex social colony with one or more breeding queens. It is wingless except for fertile adults, which form large mating swarms, and is proverbial for its industriousness.
- Family Formicidae, order Hymenoptera: several subfamilies.
- To scientists, that's as bizarre a finding as a queen bee spawning a colony of ants.
- He has red hair, shouts incessantly and moves as though a colony of ants has invaded his tracksuit trousers.
Phrases
have ants in one's pants
the ant's pants
Origin
Old English ǣmete of West Germanic origin; related to German Ameise. Compare with emmet.
The dialect word emmet for an ant, used since the 1970s as a Cornish term for a tourist, is like ant, from Old English ǣmete. Antsy, dating from the mid 19th century, is probably from the phrase have ants in one's pants; it means ‘agitated’, ‘restless’.