Carpenter-ant
a black or brown ant of the genus Camponotus that nests in the wood of decaying or dead trees in which it bores tunnels for depositing its eggs.
Historical Examples
The carpenter-ant has no moral sense, and is not amenable either to kindness or blows.
Falling in Love Grant Allen
Among these are the two large species of carpenter-ant before mentioned, which work in stumps or fallen timber.
Lippincott’s Magazine, Vol. 22, November, 1878 Various
One kind of carpenter-ant covers its walls with a mixture of sawdust, earth, and spiders’ webs.
The Adventures of a Grain of Dust Hallam Hawksworth
Read Also:
- Carpenter-bee
any of several solitary bees of the family Apidae that nest in solid wood, boring tunnels in which to deposit their eggs. Historical Examples With the point of a fine needle, I inject a tiny drop of ammonia at the base of the skull of a carpenter-bee or a Grasshopper. The Life of the Spider […]
- Carpenter-gothic
(sometimes initial capital letters) a style of Victorian Gothic architecture adapted to the resources of contemporary woodworking tools and machinery.
- Carpenterworm-moth
any moth of the family Cossidae, as Prionoxystus robiniae of the U.S. and southern Canada, whose larvae bore into the trunks and branches of oaks, locusts, and other trees.
- Carpenter pants
noun a type of loose-fitting trousers of denim or other material having multiple tool loops and pockets on both legs; also written carpenter’s pants , also called painter’s pants Examples Carpenter pants look good with baggy sweaters. See painter’s pants Word Origin originally made for carpenters Usage Note pl noun
- Carpenterworm
the larva of the carpenterworm moth.