cantharides

cantharides

See also: Cantharides

English

The Spanish fly (Lytta vesicatoria). Southern France.

Etymology

Late Middle English, from Latin cantharides, plural of cantharis.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /kænˈθæɹɪdiːz/

Noun

cantharides pl (plural only)

1. (entomology) Cantharides, a genus of coleopterous insects, formerly also taken to include aphids.
   • 1603, John Florio, transl.; Michel de Montaigne, chapter 5, in The Essayes, […], book II, printed at London: By Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], OCLC 946730821:

     The Cantharides have some part in them, which by a contrarietie of nature serveth as an antidot or counterpoison against their poison […].

2. Spanish fly, a vesicant extracted from the beetle Lytta vesicatoria (alternatively classified Cantharis vesicatoria), popularly held to have aphrodisiac properties.
   • 1926, Hope Mirrlees, Lud-in-the-Mist, Ch.26:

     I can make the most subtle sauces yield up their secret--whether it be white arsenic, rosalgar, mercury sublimate, or cantharides.

   • 1964, Anthony Burgess, Nothing Like The Sun:

     Speaking her name, it was as if he spake pure cantharides. ‘Quick,’ she panted. ‘There is time before they are all about. Again.’

   • 1992, Will Self, Cock and Bull:

     It’s lucky that Carol had taken the precaution of obtaining some cantharides; without them the evening might have been a dead loss.

   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 612:

     Basically Louis's drug dealer and pimp, Richelieu, known for opium recipes to fit all occasions, is also credited with the introduction into France of the cantharides, or Spanish fly.

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Latin

Noun

cantharidēs

1. nominative plural of cantharis
2. accusative plural of cantharis
3. vocative plural of cantharis