wasp

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wasp / wäsp/ • n. 1. a social winged insect (Vespula, Polistes, and other genera, family Vespidae) that has a narrow waist and a sting. It constructs a paper nest from wood pulp and raises the larvae on a diet of insects. See illustrations at paper wasp, mud dauber. 2. a solitary winged insect (several superfamilies) with a narrow waist, mostly distantly related to the social wasps and including many parasitic kinds.

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