Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
Definition: WASP |
WASPNoun1. A White Protestant of Anglo-Saxon ancestry. 2. Social or solitary hymenopterans typically having a slender body with the abdomen attached by a narrow stalk and having a formidable sting. Source: WordNet 1.7.1 Copyright © 2001 by Princeton University. All rights reserved. |
Date "WASP" was first used in popular English literature: sometime before 1258. (references) |
Etymology: Wasp \Wasp\, noun. [from Old English expression waspe, Anglo-Saxon w[ae]ps, w[ae]fs; akin to Dutch wesp, German wespe, Old High German. wafsa, wefsa, Lith. vapsa gadfly, Russ. osa wasp, from Latin expression vespa, and perhaps to English weave.]. (references) |
| Domain | Definition |
Dream Interpretation | Wasps, if seen in dreams, denotes that enemies will scourge and spitefully villify you. If one stings you, you will feel the effect of envy and hatred. To kill them, you will be able to throttle your enemies, and fearlessly maintain your rights. Source: Ten Thousand Dreams Interpreted .... |
Slang in 1811 | WASP. An infected prostitute, who like a wasp carries a sting in her tail. Source: 1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
Ten ships of the United States Navy have borne the name USS Wasp.The first Wasp was a merchant schooner originally named Scorpion and purchased by the Continental Navy in late 1775. Wasp and sister ship Hornet set sail from Baltimore on January 14, 1776, becoming the first ships from the Continental Fleet to set to sea. Wasp served the Continental Navy well capturing many vessels to include: HMS Betsy, HMS Leghorn Galley and Two Brothers. Wasp also recaptured USS Success, previously taken by HMS Roebuck. In the fall of 1777, Wasp was run aground, set on fire and destroyed when its gunpowder exploded.
The second Wasp was a sloop constructed in 1806 and commissioned some time in 1807. Wasp operated along the coast of the U.S. during the War of 1812. Wasp's single action of war was in October 1812 when she engaged HMS Frolic in battle, firing from a distance of 50-60 yards. Both ships sustained heavy damage, but Wasp prevailed. Later that same day Wasp, heavily damaged and unable to fight or run, surrendered to HMS Poictiers. Wasp served briefly in the Royal Navy as HMS Peacock and was lost off the Virginia Capes in 1813.
The third Wasp was a schooner built in 1810. Put into action in July 1812 for a privateering foray, Wasp took two British merchant ships as prizes. She was returned to her owners in November, 1812. Rearmed and refitted she was chartered to the U.S. Navy during the summer of 1813. The last reference to Wasp's career was an advertisement for her owners to settle accounts on August 4, 1814. Presumably, Wasp was sold.
The fourth Wasp was a sloop chartered on Lake Champlain in the late summer 1813. Of small size and poor sail, Wasp saw no combat. Wasp was returned to her owners in early 1814 and the Lake Champlain battery transferred to the schooner USS Ticonderoga.
The fifth Wasp was a ship-rigged sloop-of-war constructed in 1813 and commissioned in early 1814. Wasp put to sea on May 1, 1814, for a war cruise to the western approach of the English Channel where she destroyed HMS Avon and captured 15 British ships including HMS Reindeer. Wasp was last seen in late November 1814 by a Swedish merchantman and was apparently lost in a storm at sea.
The sixth Wasp, originally the captured Confederate iron-hulled sidewheel steamer CSS Emma Henry, was renamed Wasp while under going repairs in June 1865. Her primary duties were protection of American interests in South America and the eastern coast of Africa. Wasp continued those duties until early in 1876 when she was surveyed, found unfit for further service and sold.
The seventh Wasp, a steam yacht commissioned at New York on April 11, 1898, spent its first year of operation between Florida, Cuba, and Puerto Rico in support of the blockade on Cuba. From the end of 1898 until being formally decommissioned in 1919, Wasp was used as a training ship and recruiting tool. Wasp was sold on December 1, 1919.
The eighth Wasp (CV-7) was an aircraft carrier that saw action in World War II in the Atlantic and Pacific. Although she proved invaluable to the war effort in many ways, her most noted contribution was the resupply of Malta on not only one but two occasions. After Wasp successfully launched aircraft on April 20, 1941, to assist Malta, Prime Minister Winston Churchill requested additional reinforcement. Wasp again passed through the Straits of Gibraltar and launched aircraft on May 9. Churchill sent a message to the Captain and the crew of Wasp, which said, "Many thanks to you all for the timely help. Who said a Wasp couldn't sting twice?" Wasp continued to serve in World War II, earning two battle stars, until she was torpedoed and sunk on September 15, 1942, during the Battle for the Solomon Islands.
The ninth Wasp (CV-18) was laid down as USS Oriskany in March 1942 and renamed on November 13. During World War II she operated in the Pacific theater, earning 8 battle stars, then placed out of commission and assigned to the Atlantic Reserve Fleet. Wasp was refitted for the jet age, recommissioned and assigned to both the East and West coasts from 1951-1953. In October 1956, Wasp was reclassified as an anti-submarine warfare aircraft carrier (CVS-18). Wasp participated in the Cuban blockade in November 1962 and recovered the Gemini 4 astronauts in June of 1965. Wasp went on to recover Gemini 6A and Gemini 7 in December of that same year and Gemini 9 and Gemini 11 in 1966. Wasp was decommissioned on July 1, 1972, and sold.
See USS Wasp (CV-18) for more detail.
The tenth Wasp (LHD-1) is the lead ship of her class of multipurpose amphibious assault ships.
General Characteristics
- Displacement: 40,532 tons full load
- Length: 844 feet
- Beam 106 feet
- Main Engines
- Steam Turbines: two shafts, 70,000 SHP
- Boilers: two, 600 psi
- Aircraft:
- 42 CH-46 helicopters or equivalent
- Harrier Jets
- Landing Craft: three landing craft air cushions (LCAC)
- Missiles:
- two NATO Sea Sparrow systems
- two Rolling Airframe Missile systems
- Guns:
- three Close-in Weapons System (CIWS)
- four each 25mm and .50-cal machine guns
- Complement 1,075 crew, 1,600 troops
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "USS Wasp."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
A wasp is any insect of the order Hymenoptera and suborder Apocrita, except for the bees and ants (which in this sense are derived from wasps). Most familiar wasps belong to the Aculeata (segment ? infraorder ?). In this sense, the species called "velvet ants" (Mutilidae) are actually wasps.
Larger image. Aleiodes indiscretus wasp
parasitizing gypsy moth caterpillar.
Wasps Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Arthropoda Class: Insecta Order: Hymenoptera Suborder: Apocrita (in part)
A narrower meaning of the term wasp is any member of the Aculeate family Vespidae. This includes the yellowjackets (Vespula, Dolichovespula spp.) and hornets (Vespa spp.).
Characteristics
The following characteristics are present in most wasps:
Wasps are critically important in natural biocontrol. There is a wasp species that is predator or parasite upon almost every pest insect species. Wasps are also increasingly used in agricultural pest control.
- Two pairs of wings (exception: female Mutillidae)
- A stinger (in females)
- Few or no hairs (in contrast to bees); exception: Mutillidae
- Predators or parasitoids, mostly on other insects; some (e.g. Pompilidae) specialize in spiders
See also: how to tell bees from wasps
Some Wasp Families
- Vespidae Yellowjackets, hornets, etc.
- Scoliidae Scoliid wasps
- Mutillidae - velvet 'ants'
- Sphecidae - digger wasps
- Pompilidae - spider wasps
- Chrysididae - cuckoo wasps
External links
- [1] a pictoral life cycle of organ pipe wasps
- [1] ''links to many parasitic wasps and other insects used for biological control
The term sea wasp designates a number of species of jellyfish, including the deadly box jellyfish.
See also:
- WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant)
- W.A.S.P (1980s heavy metal band)
Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "Wasp."
(From Wikipedia, the free Encyclopedia)
WASP is an acronym standing for "White Anglo-Saxon Protestant", generally considered to have been coined by E. Digby Baltzell as a convenient shorthand in his 1964 book The Protestant Establishment: Aristocracy & Caste in America. (An E. B. Palmore is also credited with defining it in a 1962 journal article.)Source: adapted by the editor from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia under a copyleft GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) from the article "WASP."
| The following table is compiled from various sources, across various languages. When English abbreviations or acronyms come from a non-English source, this is noted. | |||
| Entry | Source | Expression | Field |
WASP | English | Wadden Sea Project | Computing |
| Wasp. | English | Window atmosphere sounding projectile | Military & Defense |
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |||
Synonym: WASPSynonym: white Anglo-Saxon Protestant (n). (additional references) |
| Context | Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus). |
Narrowness Thinness | Middle constriction, stricture, neck, waist, isthmus, wasp, hourglass; ridge, ghaut, ghat, pass; ravine. |
| Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus. | |
Crosswords: WASP |
| English words defined with "WASP": cicada killer, common wasp, cynipid gall wasp, cynipid wasp ♦ Digger wasp ♦ gall wasp, gallfly ♦ hornet ♦ ichneumon fly ♦ mason wasp, Mud dauber ♦ oak apple ♦ Paper wasp, Polistes annularis ♦ Rubytail ♦ Sand hornet, Solitary ant, Sphecius speciosis, Sphex, stinger ♦ Tarantula killer ♦ Vespiary, Vespula maculifrons, Vespula vulgaris ♦ Wall wasp, Wasp fly ♦ yellow hornet, yellow jacket. (references) |
| Specialty definitions using "WASP": Arthropod Venoms ♦ COLOCASIA ANTIQUORUM ♦ yellow-jacket wasp. (references) |
| Etymologies containing "WASP": Vespiary. (references) |
| Non-English Usage: "WASP" is also a word in the following language with the English translation in parentheses. Turkmen (description). |
| Domain | Usage | |
Screenplays | Be gone, odious wasp! You smell of decayed syllables (The Phantom Tollbooth; writing credit: Chuck Jones; Norton Juster) It's kind of a wasp soul food (All in the Family; writing credit: Johnny Speight; Norman Lear) The used Band-Aid, the guy at the gas station, the wasp on the Jell-O (One Hour Photo; writing credit: Mark Romanek) | |
Movie/TV Titles | The Wasp Woman (1960) Wasp (1986) | |
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | ||
| Domain | Title | ||
Books | |||
Theater & Movies | |||
Music |
| ||
High Tech |
| ||
Consumer Goods | |||
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Thumbnail | Description & Credit | Thumbnail | Description & Credit |
 | The hairs act to increase the levels of sensitivity experienced by the wasp to environmental conditions such as wind direction, moisture, and temperature. Credit: CDC. |  | Gemini Crew Welcomed by Wasp Crew. Credit: NASA. |
 | Gemini 9 Crew Waves to the Wasp. Credit: NASA. |  | WASP works on an oil rig-- thrusters increase mobility. Credit: National Undersea Research Program (NURP). |
 | WASP is a JIM suit with thrusters-- pilot is Graham Hawkes. Credit: National Undersea Research Program (NURP). |  | Aleiodes indiscretus wasp parasitizing a gypsy moth caterpillar. P. Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Scott Bauer.. |
 | A female Catolaccus grandis wasp homes in on a boll weevil larva. This 3/8 inch parasitic wasp, a native of Mexico, inserts her ovipositor through the plastic film covering the individual rearing cell and immobilizes the larva. P. Credit: USDA ARS News; photo by Scott Bauer.. |  | Photographed from USS Wasp (CV-7), at Noumea, New Caledonia, 4 August 1942. She is crowded with U.S. Marines, bound for the invasion of Guadalcanal. USS Quincy (CA-39) is in the background. Note President Adams' liferafts, landing craft and climbing netting. Credit: NAVY. |
 | Anchored off Portland, Maine, in February 1942, shortly before the overhaul that replaced her "basket" foremast with a tripod. Photographed from USS Wasp (CV-7). Credit: NAVY. |  | McLendon poking "Senate" wasp nest with "code of ethics" twig. Credit: Library of Congress. |
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits. | |||
 |  |
| "Wasp on a flower" by Jeffrey Lingmont Commentary: "A wasp chewing on a white flower form a nice close-up range..." | "Wasp with Sting" by Gary McCord Commentary: "Wasp with sting." |
Source: photographs selected by the editor, with permission from the photographers. | |
| Play | Caption |
 | Wasp buzzing. |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| "WASP" is generally used as a noun (singular) -- approximately 91.12% of the time. "WASP" is used about 214 times out of a sample of 100 million words spoken or written in English. Its rank is based on over 700,000 words used in the English language. Some parts-of-speech are not covered due to the samples used by the British National Corpus. (note: percents less than one-hundredth of one percent have been omitted) |
| Parts of Speech | Percent | Usage per 100 Million Words | Rank in English |
| Noun (singular) | 91.12% | 195 | 21,939 |
| Noun (proper) | 6.54% | 14 | 93,893 |
| Lexical Verb (base form) | 1.4% | 3 | 202,518 |
| Noun (common) | 0.93% | 2 | 245,945 |
| Total | 100.00% | 214 | N/A |
Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits.
| The following table summarizes the usage of "WASP" based on a population census conducted in the United States. Ranks and frequencies are based on all names reported and classified. |
| Name | Usage/Gender | Usage per 100 million Persons | Rank in USA |
| Wasp | Last name | 170 | 44,926 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from several corpora; see credits. | |||
| The following table summarizes names derived from the word "WASP". | |||
| Name | Gender | Language | Meaning |
| Zeruah | N/A | Biblical | Wasp |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references.
| |||
Expressions using "WASP": chalcid wasp ♦ common wasp ♦ cynipid gall wasp ♦ cynipid wasp ♦ Digger wasp ♦ gall wasp ♦ Golden wasp ♦ Leaf wasp ♦ mason wasp ♦ mud wasp ♦ paper wasp ♦ Potter wasp ♦ sand wasp ♦ sea wasp ♦ sphecoid wasp ♦ vespid wasp ♦ wall wasp ♦ wasp fly ♦ Wasp Venoms ♦ wasp waist. Additional references. | |
| Hyphenated Usage | |
Beginning with "WASP": wasp-green, wasp-infested, wasp-like, wasp-nematode, wasp-nests, wasp-prison, wasp-sized, wasp-tail, wasp-waist, wasp-waisted, wasp-wasted, wasp-y. | |
Ending with "WASP": fig-wasp, non-wasp, paper-wasp. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |
| The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com. |
| Expression | Frequency per Day | Expression | Frequency per Day |
wasp | 1,227 | sea wasp | 24 |
wasp sting | 268 | get rid of wasp | 22 |
wasp nest | 112 | type wasp | 20 |
wasp trap | 89 | killer wasp | 20 |
the paper wasp | 83 | dauber mud wasp | 18 |
picture of wasp | 79 | lyrics wasp | 18 |
uss wasp | 64 | waist wasp | 17 |
wasp bar code | 64 | wasp catcher | 16 |
wasp hornet | 53 | wasp wood | 16 |
wasp control | 51 | bee wasp and hornet | 16 |
black wasp | 49 | homemade trap wasp | 15 |
bee wasp | 43 | ground wasp | 15 |
bite wasp | 42 | parasitic wasp | 15 |
insect wasp | 36 | identification wasp | 14 |
kill wasp | 36 | remedy sting wasp | 14 |
mud wasp | 28 | species wasp | 14 |
red wasp | 27 | spider wasp | 13 |
jacket wasp yellow | 27 | ichneumon wasp | 13 |
treatment for wasp sting | 25 | rid wasp | 13 |
cicada killer wasp | 25 | blue wasp | 13 |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. | |||
| Language | Translations for "WASP"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses. | |
Albanian | grenzë (hornet). (various references) | |
Arabic | زنبور (hornet), دبور (hornet). (various references) | |
Basque | liztor. (various references) | |
Bulgarian | оса. (various references) | |
Chinese | 蜂 (bee, luxuriant), 黃蜂 , 黄蜂. (various references) | |
Cornish | gúhýen. (various references) | |
Czech | vosa. (various references) | |
Danish | hveps. (various references) | |
Dutch | wesp. (various references) | |
Esperanto | vespo. (various references) | |
Farsi | زنبور(بی عسل). (various references) | |
Finnish | ampiainen. (various references) | |
French | guêpe. (various references) | |
Frisian | meeps, ealjebij. (various references) | |
German | Wespe. (various references) | |
Greek | σφήκα (hornet). (various references) | |
Hebrew | צרעה (hornet). (various references) | |
Hungarian | darázs. (various references) | |
Indonesian | tawon, penyengat. (various references) | |
Irish | foiche. (various references) | |
Italian | vespa (hornet). (various references) | |
Japanese Kanji | 雀蜂 (hornet), ワープロ馬鹿 (business shirt, dead silence after a joke falls flat, food wagon service, multi-national enterprise, news program, shirt, someone whose kanji-writing ability has suffered due to overreliance on the kana->kanji conversion systems used to input Japanese text on a computer, table-side service, talk and varietyshow, vaccine, vagina, vaseline, wacoal, Wagner, wagon, wagon sale, Waikiki, warlock, washer, Washington, Washington Post, watt, wax, wide, wide-angle lens, wide-band, wife, wild, wild pitch, windshield wipers, windup, wine, wine color, wine glass, wine list, wine red, winecooler, winery, wipe, wipe in, wipe out, wire, wire glass, wired, wireless, wireless mike, wire-wrapping, wise, wivern, working holiday, workshop, World, world class, World Cup, world enterprise, World Games, World Series, worm, wow, wow and flutter, Wyoming, wyvern). (various references) | |
Japanese Katakana | すずめばち (hornet), ワスプ . (various references) | |
Korean | 말벌. (various references) | |
Manx | shellan cabbyl, poogh (kiss). (various references) | |
Maya | xuux. (various references) | |
Occitan | vèspa. (various references) | |
Papago | wihpsh. (various references) | |
Pig Latin | aspway.(various references) | |
Portuguese | vespa (buzzer). (various references) | |
Russian | оса (wasp 2, yellowjacket). (various references) | |
Scottish | speach (a blow, a wasp, any venomous insect, door step). (various references) | |
Sepedi | mobu. (various references) | |
Serbo-Croatian | zolja, osa (axis), beli englez, saksonac protestant (white anglo-saxon protestant), amerikanac bele rase anglo-saksonskog porekla. (various references) | |
Shona | igo. (various references) | |
Sicilian | vespa. (various references) | |
Spanish | avispa. (various references) | |
Sranan | waswasi. (various references) | |
Swazi | úm-nyóvu. (various references) | |
Swedish | geting. (various references) | |
Turkish | yabanarısı (bumble bee, bumblebee, humble-bee, vespine), sarıca arı (digger, digger wasp), eşekarısı (hornet, vespine), beyaz protestan amerikalı, arı (bee, clean, pure). (various references) | |
Ukrainian | стопроцентний американець, оса. (various references) | |
Vietnamese | thắt đáy lưng ong (wasp-waisted), lưng ong (wasp-waist). (various references) | |
Welsh | cacynen (wild bee). (various references) | |
Yucatec | xux. (various references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references. | ||
| Language | Period | Translations |
| Latin | 500 BCE-Modern | crabrones, vespa, vespas. (various references) |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references. | ||
Derivations | |
Words beginning with "WASP": waspier, waspiest, waspily, waspish, waspishly, waspishness, waspishnesses, wasplike, wasps, waspy. (additional references) | |
| |
"WASP" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: awsa, awsp, iwasg, Vasp, waip, waipu, walp, Wapc, Wapi, wapse, Warsop, wasi, wasn, waso, waspe, waspy, wass, wasu, waz, wips, wlap, woap, wrasp, wyap. (additional references) | |
| Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references). | |
Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams | |
Direct Anagrams: paws, swap, waps. | |
| Words within the letters "a-p-s-w" | |
-1 letter: asp, pas, paw, sap, saw, spa, wap, was. | |
-2 letters: as, aw, pa. | |
| Words containing the letters "a-p-s-w" | |
+1 letter: gawps, pawls, pawns, pshaw, spawn, swamp, swaps, warps, wasps, waspy, whaps, wraps, yawps. | |
+2 letters: papaws, pawers, pesewa, pilaws, pitsaw, prawns, pshaws, psywar, ripsaw, spawns, sprawl, swamps, swampy, wampus, washup, wataps, whaups. | |
+3 letters: bewraps, catspaw, cowpats, cowpeas, dewlaps, enwraps, gawpers, impawns, inwraps, pawnees, pawners, pawnors, pawpaws, pesewas, pitsaws, postwar, prewash, pshawed, psywars, rewraps, ripsaws, sapwood, shipway, slipway, snowcap, sparrow, spawned, spawner, sprawls, sprawly, stewpan, swamped, swamper, swanpan, swapped, swapper, tawpies, unwraps, upwafts, upwards, walkups, wallops, wampish, wampums, wapitis, warmups, warpers, warship, washups, waspier, waspily, waspish, watapes, weapons, whipsaw, yawpers. | |
| Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro. | |
| 1. Definition 2. Synonyms 3. Crosswords 4. Usage: Modern | 5. Usage: Commercial 6. Images: Slideshow 7. Images: Photo Album 8. Images: Digital Art | 9. Sounds 10. Usage Frequency 11. Names: Frequency 12. Names: Derived from | 13. Expressions 14. Expressions: Internet 15. Translations: Modern 16. Translations: Ancient | 17. Abbreviations 18. Acronyms 19. Derivations 20. Anagrams | 21. Bibliography |
Copyright © Philip M. Parker, INSEAD. Terms of Use.
