MANTIS • DICCIONARIO INGLES.COM • Definition of Mantis

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noun

Mantis n. (Zool.) Any one of numerous species of voracious orthopterous insects of the genus Mantis, and allied genera. They are predacious long-bodied large-eyed insects of warm regions, are remarkable for their slender grotesque forms, and for holding their stout anterior legs in a manner suggesting hands folded in prayer. The common American species is Mantis Carolina.

Mantis shrimp. (Zool.) The Squilla, a tropical marine burrowing crustacean with large grasping appendages. Also called mantis crab and mantis prawn.

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Etymology of 'Mantis'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Mantis" Quotes from Famous Books

... these insects when watching for their prey—their fore legs being elevated and joined in a supplicating manner—has given them in English the popular names of "soothsayer," "prophet," and "praying mantis," in French, "prie-Dieu," in Portuguese, "louva-Deos," etc. According to Sparmann, the Nubians and Hottentots regard mantides as tutelary divinities, and worship them as such. A monkish legend tells us that Saint Francis Xavier, having perceived ...

— Scientific American Supplement, No. 385, May 19, 1883 • Various

Words linked to "Mantis" : Mantis religioso, praying mantid, praying mantis, mantis prawn