Word of the day: caddisfly

The word of the day is caddisfly:

1. any of numerous aquatic insects constituting the order Trichoptera, having two pairs of membranous, often hairy wings and superficially resembling moths.

(http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/caddisfly)

Most caddisfly larvae live in cases they build out of sand, rock, twigs, leaf pieces, and any other kind of underwater debris. Some even generate their own cases out of silk. There is tremendous variation in case style and also in the way the larvae manage their cases: whether they replace it as they grow or renovate their old one, and whether they carry it around or fix it to an object.

(http://www.troutnut.com/hatch/12/Insect-Trichoptera-Caddisflies)

"'Wizards always used to build a tower around themselves, like those...what do you call those things you find at the bottom of rivers?'

"'Frogs.'

"'Stones.'

"'Unsuccessful gangsters.'

"'Caddis flies is what I meant,' said Rincewind."

 - Terry Pratchett, Sourcery

word of the day: timbal

The word of the day is timbal:

Etymology:  = modern French timbale (1646 in Hatzfeld & Darmesteter), Italian timballo , Spanish timbal , Portuguese timbal , timbale , substituted for, and apparently altered from, earlier French attabale (Cotgrave 1611), Italian taballo (Florio 1611), Spanish atabal , Portuguese attabale , see atabal n. It is not clear in which language or under what influence the change was made (perhaps in Italian, which had already dropped initial a): compare the French alteration of tabour to tambour. The spelling tymbal was apparently due to the influence of cymbal. 
1. Entomol. A membrane (resembling a drum-head) in certain insects, as the cicada, by means of which a shrill chirping sound is produced. (OED)


"The live cicadas he'd set loose in the church apparently had stagefright and refused to sing, although one perched on a microphone, as though to lip- (or timbal-) synch."

 - Nick Paumgarten, "Brood dude", 24 June 2013 The New Yorker

word of the day: eclosion

The word of the day is eclosion:

Etymology:  < French éclosion, n. of action of éclore , < é- = ex- prefix¹ + clore < Latin claudĕre to shut. 

Emergence from concealment; spec. in Entomol., the emerging of an insect from the pupa case, or of a larva from the egg.  (OED)

"Flies were collected within 1 day after eclosion, and kept on fresh cornmeal-agar-yeast food until they were 4 to 7 days old."

 - Hiroko Inoue et al., "Partial purification and characterization of membrane-associated diacylglycerol kinase of Drosophila heads", Biochimica et Biophysica Acta 1122:219 (1992)