different between gadfly vs cleg

English

Etymology

From gad (“spike”) +? fly.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /??ædfla?/

Noun

gadfly (plural gadflies)

1. Any dipterous insect of the family Oestridae, commonly known as botflies.

   Synonyms: botfly, warble fly

2. A horsefly: any of various species of fly, of the family Tabanidae, noted for buzzing about animals and sucking their blood.

   Synonyms: horsefly, stoat-fly, stout

   • 2005, Rafael Argullol, The End of the World as a Work of Art: A Western Story, Bucknell University Press (?ISBN), page 48:

     Vengeful Hera transformed her into an animal (a beautiful cow), and imposed upon her the company of a gadfly to sting her continuously, thus forcing her to escape on an endless pilgrimage.

3. (figuratively) One who upsets the status quo by posing upsetting or novel questions, or attempts to stimulate innovation by proving an irritant.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:maverick
4. (derogatory) One who merely irritates without making useful suggestions.
5. (derogatory, slang) A bloodsucker; a person who takes without giving back.

   Synonyms: bloodsucker; see also Thesaurus:scrounger

Translations

Further reading

• horse-fly on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• botfly on Wikipedia.Wikipedia

English

Alternative forms

• clegg
• gleg

Etymology

From Middle English clege, from Old Norse kleggi, possibly ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *gl?g?-s (“point”); compare with Norwegian Nynorsk klegg, Ancient Greek ?????? (gl?khís, “barb”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kl??/
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

cleg (plural clegs)

1. (now dialectal) A light breeze.
2. (Scotland, England dialect) A blood-sucking fly of the family Tabanidae; a gadfly, a horsefly.
   • 1657, Thomas Burton, Diary, I,

     Sir Christopher Pack did cleave like a clegg, and was very angry he could not be heard ad infinitum.

   • 1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song, Polygon 2006 (A Scots Quair), p. 39,

     Now that was in summer, the time of fleas and glegs and golochs in the fields, when stirks would start up from a drowsy cud-chewing to a wild a feckless racing, the glegs biting through hair and hide to the skin below the tail-rump.

   • 2011, Denis Brook, Phil Hinchliffe, North to the Cape: A Trek from Fort William to Cape Wrath, page 49,

     Whilst the swarms which surround you are annoying, they do not bite. It is the midges, clegs and ticks you should be on the lookout for.

Synonyms

• (blood-sucking fly of family Tabanidae): blind-fly (Central Africa), deer fly (genus Chrysops), gadfly, horsefly, tabanid

References

• “cleg”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–present.

References

• Pokorny, Julius (1959) Indogermanisches etymologisches Wörterbuch [Indo-European Etymological Dictionary] (in German), Bern, München: Francke Verlag, page 1144

Anagrams

• CGEL