ant

noun

1. any of numerous black, red, brown, or yellow social insects of the family Formicidae, of worldwide distribution especially in warm climates, having a large head with inner jaws for chewing and outer jaws for carrying and digging, and living in highly organized colonies containing wingless female workers, a winged queen, and, during breeding seasons, winged males, some species being noted for engaging in warfare, slavemaking, or the cultivation of food sources.

Idioms

2. have ants in one’s pants, Slang. to be impatient or eager to act or speak.

1. antenna
2. antonym.

1. Antarctica.

1. variant of anti- before a vowel or h: antacid; anthelmintic.

1. a suffix forming adjectives and nouns from verbs, occurring originally in French and Latin loanwords (pleasant; constant; servant) and productive in English on this model; -ant has the general sense “characterized by or serving in the capacity of” that named by the stem (ascendant; pretendant), especially in the formation of nouns denoting human agents in legal actions or other formal procedures (tenant; defendant; applicant; contestant). In technical and commercial coinages, -ant is a suffix of nouns denoting impersonal physical agents (propellant; lubricant; deodorant). In general, -ant can be added only to bases of Latin origin, with a very few exceptions, as coolant.

1. Chiefly British Dialect. contraction of am not.
2. Dialect. ain’t.

noun

1. any small social insect of the widely distributed hymenopterous family Formicidae, typically living in highly organized colonies of winged males, wingless sterile females (workers), and fertile females (queens), which are winged until after matingSee also army ant, fire ant, slave ant, wood ant Related adjective: formic
2. white ant another name for a termite
3. have ants in one’s pants slang to be restless or impatient

prefix

1. a variant of anti- antacid

contraction of mainly British

1. (ɑːnt) a rare variant spelling of aren’t
2. (eɪnt) dialect a variant spelling of ain’t

suffix forming adjectives, suffix forming nouns

1. causing or performing an action or existing in a certain condition; the agent that performs an actionpleasant; claimant; deodorant; protestant; servant

n.

c.1500, from Middle English ampte (late 14c.), from Old English æmette “ant,” from West Germanic *amaitjo (cf. Old High German ameiza, German Ameise) from a compound of bases *ai- “off, away” + *mai- “cut,” from PIE *mai- “to cut” (cf. maim). Thus the insect’s name is, etymologically, “the biter off.”

As þycke as ameten crepeþ in an amete hulle [chronicle of Robert of Gloucester, 1297]

Emmet survived into 20c. as an alternative form. White ant “termite” is from 1729. To have ants in one’s pants “be nervous and fidgety” is from 1934, made current by a popular song; antsy embodies the same notion.

agent or instrumental suffix, from Old French and French -ant, from Latin -antem, accusative of -ans, present participle suffix of many Latin verbs.

pref.

1. Variant ofanti-