Dictionary

zimb en · NOUN

Etymology

Borrowed from Amharic ዝምብ (zəmb), ዝንብ (zənb).

Meanings

1. (archaic) An Ethiopian horsefly of the genus Pangonius, destructive to livestock.
   • The zimb-fly sometimes depopulates whole territories, causing man and beast to fly from the lowlands into the mountains or the desert. Both the scorpion and locust infest the country. 1854, Samuel Griswold Goodrich, A history of all nations, from the earliest periods to the present time, volume 2, page 608:
   • The illustrious Bruce and others imagine, that in the zimb of Abyssinia they recognize the fly plague which afflicted the Egyptians. 1840, Robert Montgomery Martin, Colonial magazine and commercial-maritime journal: Volume 3, page 155:

Forms

Synonyms

zebub