insecta

insecta is defined in Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1913) with 2 senses. The full text of each entry is reproduced verbatim below.

Definitions

  1. 1.(Zoöl.) In a more restricted sense, the Hexapoda alone. See Hexapoda.
  2. 2.(Zoöl.) In the most general sense, the Hexapoda, Myriapoda, and Arachnoidea, combined. Note: The typical Insecta, or hexapod insects, are divided into several orders, viz.: Hymenoptera, as the bees and ants; Diptera, as the common flies and gnats; Aphaniptera, or fleas; Lepidoptera, or moths and butterflies; Neuroptera, as the ant-lions and hellgamite; Coleoptera, or beetles; Hemiptera, as bugs, lice, aphids; Orthoptera, as grasshoppers and cockroaches; Pseudoneuroptera, as the dragon flies and termites; Euplexoptera, or earwings; Thysanura, as the springtails, podura, and lepisma. See these words in the Vocabulary.

Source: Webster's Unabridged Dictionary, 1913 edition (public domain, via GCIDE / Project Gutenberg).

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