Definition of ant in English:

ant

noun

A small insect typically having a sting and living in a complex social colony with one or more breeding queens. It is wingless except for fertile adults, which form large mating swarms, and is proverbial for its industriousness.
Family Formicidae, order Hymenoptera: several subfamilies
- ‘The next time either of those two ants meet any other ant, the information they pass on will be different.’
- ‘To scientists, that's as bizarre a finding as a queen bee spawning a colony of ants.’
- ‘He has red hair, shouts incessantly and moves as though a colony of ants has invaded his tracksuit trousers.’
- ‘Outside were long lines of ants and other small insects hanging around and seemingly without very much to do.’
- ‘From schools of fish to a swarm of ants, animals exhibit extraordinary collective behaviour.’
- ‘Farmers have traditionally used sugary solutions to attract red ants to feed on insect larvae.’
- ‘I got home yesterday evening to find the kitchen absolutely swarming with ants.’
- ‘You had to go barefoot in the temple, and with food offerings on the floor the place was swarming with ants.’
- ‘He had tried to get out of the house, but there were ants swarming all over the door.’
- ‘Some will give a colony of ants an extra push to bring sugar and food to it's families.’
- ‘Two or three black ants would surround an enemy ant and bite it to death.’
- ‘Bees belong to the third largest insect order which also includes wasps and ants.’
- ‘Over at Peter's there has been talk of flying ants and mozzies that seem to be attacking us in their thousands this year.’
- ‘Anteaters have long snouts which they thrust into ant-heaps in order to devour the ants or termites.’
- ‘At this point the leading ants panic and backtrack to the safety of the swarm.’
- ‘The ants were the most prolific of the insects we were likely to encounter daily.’
- ‘The ants consume the honeydew as food, thus sustaining the life of both insects.’
- ‘Then we discovered tool-using animals, chimpanzees using sticks to dig ants out of anthills.’
- ‘Alternatively, an insecticide can be used that will simply kill the ants.’
- ‘Today this woman called in very upset because she caught her little daughter eating ants.’

Phrases

have ants in one's pants

informal

Be fidgety or restless.
‘what's the matter with you, always fidgeting—you got ants in your pants?’
- ‘Maybe it's just God trying to tell me to keep still and stop acting like I have ants in my pants, to just be calm and happy that all is well.’
- ‘He appeared to have ants in his pants, refusing to stand still for a minute.’
- ‘I have so much energy that the little kids I baby-sit told me it looks like I have ants in my pants.’
- ‘I tossed and turned, and finally Shirley said something like I had ants in my pants, something like that, anyway, and decided to walk the house to try and fall asleep.’
- ‘Anyway, I can't sit still - I've always had ants in my pants, and I can't see me sitting in the dressing room for four or five weeks.’

the ant's pants

Australian

informal

An outstandingly good person or thing.
‘we had a great party that night thinking we were the ant's pants’
- ‘I had always thought a quantum computer would be the ant's pants.’
- ‘The new storage spaces are the ant's pants.’
- ‘After a careful read of this book, I came to the conclusion that her volume is the ant's pants of how-to books in the video field.’
- ‘That Queensland treacle is the ant's pants!’
- ‘She thinks she's the ant's pants because her husband drives a Porsche.’
- ‘Although my bike still wasn't as professional as most of the other guys', I thought it was the ant's pants.’
- ‘The plush hotel had a pool and spa that were simply the ant's pants.’
- ‘I thought he was the ant's pants.’
- ‘Here is a car that is supposed to be the ant's pants.’
- ‘I've already lined up some of the unemployed fishermen to man the boats and they think I'm the ant's pants.’