muggie, noun

Forms:
Also miggie.
Origin:
Afrikaans.
A midge or gnat. Also figurative.
[1964 J. Meintjes Manor House 129The boy never had a real home of his own, and he never let you forget it. Everybody called him Muggie (a muggie is a mite).]
1970 C. Tuckett Informant, Bloemfontein, Free StateIn the evenings around the street lamps one finds many muggies flying about.
1984 Fair Lady 30 May 176What about the ubiquitous muggies which settle in clouds on every glass of wine drunk on every stoep in the Boland?
1986 L.B. Hall in Style July 97They sit sipping their tea, enchanted by the ducks on the pond. And because it is getting hot, the miggies start to bite so they bring out their bottles of eau-de-cologne.
1988 A. Lennox-Short Informant, Cape Town, Western CapeThe one muggie in your rich wyn is the cover of DSAE.
1991 I. & F. De Moor Informants, Grahamstown (now Makhanda, Eastern Cape)Muggies — small flies or midges — the term refers to flies belonging to both the Chironomidae and Simuliidae families.
1995 Advertising pamphlet, Heritage CollectionSimply switch on the tube light, which sends currents through the wires over it — miggies, mosquitoes, gnats and other flying insects are attracted to its bright blue glow where they’re electrocuted.
A midge or gnat. Also figurative.
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19641995