Dragonfly Meaning

Any of numerous predatory insects of the order Odonata, having large eyes, a long slender body, and two pairs of transparent veined wings, especially those of the order Anisoptera, which hold the wings outstretched when at rest, as distinguished from the damselflies. Also called regionally darner, darning needle, devil's darning needle, mosquito fly, mosquito hawk, needle, skeeter hawk, snake doctor, snake feeder, spindle.

Our Living Language Regional terms for the dragonfly are numerous—the Dictionary of American Regional English lists nearly 80 of them. The greatest variety of terms is to be found in the South, where the most widespread term is snake doctor (a name based on a folk belief that dragonflies take care of snakes). The Midland equivalent is snake feeder. Speakers from the Lower South and the Mississippi Valley, on the other hand, are more likely to refer to the same insect as a mosquito fly, mosquito hawk, or, in the South Atlantic states, a skeeter hawk. The imagery outside the South often alludes to the insect's shape rather than its behavior or diet: speakers in the West, in the Upper North, and in New England call it a darner, darning needle, or, less commonly, a devil's darning needle, and those in the Upper North also refer to it just as a needle; those in coastal New Jersey, a spindle.

1. (Animals) any predatory insect of the suborder Anisoptera, having a large head and eyes, a long slender body, two pairs of iridescent wings that are outspread at rest, and aquatic larvae: order Odonata. See also damselfly

2. (Animals) any other insect of the order Odonata

any nonstinging insect of the order Odonata (suborder Anisoptera), distinguished from the damselfly by having the wings open when at rest.

Any of various insects having a long slender body and two pairs of many-veined wings that are held outstretched at rest.

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