tsetse, noun
/ˈtsetsi/
- Forms:
- Show more Also tetse, tse-tse, tsetsi, tzetze.
- Origin:
- SetswanaShow more Setswana tsètsè (see quotation 1846).
1. The tropical fly Glossina morsitans of the Tabanidae, which by its bite transmits sleeping-sickness to man, and the often fatal nagana to horses, cattle, and other domesticated animals; fly sense 1. Also applied to other species of Glossina. Also attributive, and combination (instrumental), as tsetse-bitten, tsetse-borne, tsetse-conveyed adjectives.
[1846 J.C. Brown tr. of T. Arbousset’s Narr. of Explor. Tour to N.-E. of Col. 181Bitten by an insect, very numerous there, called fly-flea in Sechuana (ntsintsi-a-tsetse) on account of its bite.]
1987 Fair Lady 18 Feb. 149Viv has her mandatory brandy-and-soda to ward off any marauding tsetse flies.
2. transferred sense.
a. Pathology nagana. Also combinations (instrumental), as tsetse-haunted, tsetse-poisoned, tsetse-stricken, participial adjectives.
1857 D. Livingstone Missionary Trav. 591We had travelled very slowly, the tsetse-stricken oxen being now unable to go two miles an hour.
1977 Argus 3 July 16They were breeding them (sc. zebra-donkey crosses) commercially because of their immunity to tsetse.
b. obs. Country infested by the tsetse-fly; fly sense 2 b.
1877 T. Baines Gold Regions of S.-E. Afr. 41We followed it till the herd escaped into the Tsetse Fly.
The tropical fly Glossina morsitans of the Tabanidae, which by its bite transmits sleeping-sickness to man, and the often fatal nagana to horses, cattle, and other domesticated animals; fly sense 1. Also applied to other species of Glossina. Also attributive, and combination (instrumental), as tsetse-bitten, tsetse-borne, tsetse-conveyed adjectives.
nagana. Also combinations (instrumental), as tsetse-haunted, tsetse-poisoned, tsetse-stricken, participial adjectives.
Country infested by the tsetse-fly; fly sense 2 b.
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