gnat
part of speech
noun (a gnat, gnats)
meaning for a pupil
A gnat is a tiny flying insect, a bit like a very small fly, often seen in clouds near water; some kinds bite. tree →
sense in the lessons
In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: Gnats were the third plague on Egypt, and tiny insects came from the dust of the earth. Interpretation: The magicians could not copy this plague. Tradition says they then admitted it was "the finger of God", since their secret arts could not make anything smaller than a barley grain. In the primary lessons: In science lessons gnats are insects with six legs and two wings; many are food for birds, bats and fish. In everyday life gnats buzz around faces on summer evenings. In stories, something annoying but small may be compared to a gnat. Phrases: a cloud of gnats, «strain at a gnat» (Bible: fuss over tiny things).
examples
- And the magicians did so with their secret arts to bring forth gnats, but they could not; and there were gnats upon man, and upon beast. (Torah EXO.8.18, JPS 1917) tree →
- And the LORD said unto Moses: 'Say unto Aaron: Stretch out thy rod, and smite the dust of the earth, that it may become gnats throughout all the land of Egypt.' (Torah EXO.8.16, JPS 1917) tree →
- He spoke, and there came swarms of flies, and gnats in all their borders. (Writings PSA.105.31, JPS 1917) tree →
- A cloud of gnats hovered over the pond. tree →
- I got bitten by gnats on the camping trip. tree →
- Swallows swoop to catch gnats in the air. tree →
- The gnat was so small it got through the window net. tree →
- In the Bible, Jesus speaks of people who strain out a gnat but swallow a camel. tree →
- The little gnat kept buzzing round my ear. tree →
- The gnats and flies grew blithe and merry. tree →
note
The «g» is silent: say «nat». Countable. In the US, «gnat» covers many small flies; in the UK, «midge» is often used for biting ones.
In the corpora
- He spoke, and there came swarms of flies, and gnats in all their borders.
- Bats catch moths and gnats in the dark by shouting very high squeaks and listening for the echoes.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «gnat» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.