Maggot

Pronunciation

• enPR: măg'É™t, IPA: /ˈmæɡət/

Origin

From Middle English magot, magotte, probably Anglo-Norman alteration of maddock ("worm", "maggot"), originally a diminutive form of a base represented by Old English maþa (Scots mathe), from common Germanic root *mathon-, from the Proto-Indo-European root *math-, which was used in insect names, equivalent to made + -ock. Near-cognates include Dutch made, German Made and Swedish mask.

The use of maggot to mean a fanciful or whimsical thing derives from the folk belief that a whimsical or crotchety person had maggots in his or her brain.

Full definition of maggot

Noun

1. A soft, legless larva of a fly or other dipterous insect, that often eats decomposing organic matter.
2. A term of insult for a 'worthless' person, as if a bug.Drop and give me fifty, maggot.
3. (obsolete) A whimsy or fancy.Mr. Beveridge's Maggot, an old country dance http://www.izaak.unh.edu/nhltmd/indexes/dancingmaster/Dance/Play4199.htm.
• 1620, John Fletcher (playwright), Women Pleased, III.iv.Are you not mad, my friend? What time o' th' moon is't?
  Have not you maggots in your brain?

Synonyms

• (soft legless larva) grub

Derived terms

Related terms

• mawk
• mawkish