pest
part of speech
noun (a pest, pests)
meaning for a pupil
1) A pest is an insect or animal that harms crops, food, gardens or homes, such as rats, mice, cockroaches or greenfly. tree →
2) A pest is also an annoying person, especially a child who keeps bothering you. tree →
sense in the lessons
In science and farming pests eat crops or spread germs, and people use traps, sprays or natural enemies (like ladybirds) to control them. In stories a little brother may be called «a pest». Phrases: «pest control», «garden pests», «be a pest», «stop being a pest».
examples
- Rabbits are a big pest for farmers in Australia. tree →
- Slugs are pests that eat lettuces. tree →
- Ladybirds eat aphids, which are garden pests. tree →
- We called pest control to get rid of the mice. tree →
- My little sister is being a pest again! tree →
- Keep food covered so pests don't get in. tree →
- Stop being a pest and let me finish my homework. tree →
- The Pest Maiden arrives, and thrusts her arm in at his window. tree →
note
Countable: pest, pests. «Pesticide» is a chemical to kill pests; it can be poisonous, so children should never touch it. Calling someone a pest is mild and often joking, not very rude.
In the corpora
- Breaching means leaping out of the water; scientists think whales do it to signal, show off or knock off skin pests.
- Rabbits do eat crops and young vegetables, so farmers see them as pests and fence their fields.
- A small bat can catch hundreds of midges in an hour, so bats are free pest control.
- Released pets can die or become pests, and many pests around the world began as someone's unwanted pet.
- Pets let go can die or become pests that harm wild animals, and rescue centres and pet shops can take unwanted pets back.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «pest» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.