(UK, Ireland) The cranefly; any insect of the suborder .
(UK, Ireland) The cranefly; any insect of the suborder .
Daddy longlegs adults are weak flyers, falling onto the water surface in the lightest of breezes, and even on calm days.
Add your own interpretation of "daddy longlegs".
UK and Irish slang — Cockney, Scouse, Geordie, Yorkshire, Glaswegian, Brummie, Welsh, West Country, plus Irish English. Centuries of regional dialects feeding into modern British and Irish street talk.
See all British & Irish slang slang on Slangora.
Browse all slang words starting with D.
(Scotland) A cranefly.
Scottish common name for the cranefly -- the large, gangly flying insect known in England as daddy longlegs. The cranefly is notorious for its clumsy flight and tendency to blunder helplessly into houses. Scottish regional names for it reflect both the long-legged physical appearance and the traditional habit of assigning female personal names to this insect, as in the parallel 'jenny wren'.
(US, regional) A crane fly (US) / daddy longlegs (UK), a large, mosquito-like insect in the suborder.
Scottish term for the cranefly — the long-legged, spindly flying insect that blunders around rooms and terrifies people far out of proportion to its actual harmlessness. In England it's called a daddy-longlegs; in Scotland jenny-longlegs is the preferred form. Jenny is a traditional diminutive female name used in many British animal nicknames. Either way, it's a large, ungainly insect that nobody wants landing on their face.
(Australia, Canada, New Zealand, US) Any (non-spider) arachnid of the order , mostly with long thin legs.
"daddy longlegs" means: Any (non-spider) arachnid of the order , mostly with long thin legs.. This is a fairly neutral word with no inherent risk attached. There is no real cause for parental concern; it is descriptive vocabulary rather than something dangerous. If your child uses it, context will usually make the meaning clear. A brief, curious question about where they heard it is generally enough to know whether to follow up.
"daddy longlegs" means: Any (non-spider) arachnid of the order , mostly with long thin legs.. Register: neutral, standard English, usable in most everyday contexts. Note the regional or dialect label (New Zealand) — usage may sound odd outside that variety. A common non-native mistake is to use the word in the wrong register, or to assume one fixed meaning when it is actually polysemous; always check the surrounding register and the audience before producing it yourself. In formal writing, prefer a neutral synonym or a short descriptive phrase, and use this word only when you have heard or read it being used naturally in a comparable context.
(loosely) The daddy long-legs spider, any spider of the family .