Definition of earwig - Reverso English Dictionary
Noun
1.
insectRare small insect with pincers at the rearRare
- The child was fascinated by the earwig in the garden..
2.
eavesdroppingDated UK act of secretly listening to a conversationDated UK
- He was caught in the act of earwigging at the door..
Verb
1.
eavesdropintr. Dated secretly listen to a private conversationintr. Dated
- She tried to earwig on her colleagues' chat in the break room..
2.
influencetr. Dated UK fill the mind with prejudice by insinuationstr. Dated UK
- They attempted to earwig him against his colleagues.
Images of earwig

small insect with pincers at the rear
Expressions with earwig
💡 Discover popular phrases, idioms, collocations, or phrasal verbs. Click any expression to learn more, listen to its pronunciation, or save it to your favorites.
small insect with pincers, sometimes harms garden or farm plants
The common European earwig hides under leaves during the day.
Origin of earwig
Old English, ēar (ear) + wicga (insect)
Examples of earwig in a sentence
She carefully observed the earwig with a magnifying glass. She was earwigging on their private conversation. Caught earwigging, he quickly apologized. He managed to earwig on their secret meeting. I caught him trying to earwig on our conversation. She tried to earwig him into distrusting his friends.
Politicians often earwig the public with biased information.
View all translations of earwig
Click below to see the appropriate translations facing each meaning.
- French:perce-oreille, écouter clandestinement, ...
- German:Ohrwurm, belauschen, ...
- Italian:forbicina, origliare, ...
- Spanish:tijereta, espiar, ...
- Portuguese:tesourinha, escutar às escondidas, ...
- Chinese:蠼螋, 暗中听, ...
- Japanese:ハサミムシ, 盗み聞きする, ...
- Arabic:إِبْرَةُ العَجُوز, تَصَنَّتَ, ...
- Hebrew:אֲכִילוֹס הָאֹזֶן, הִסְתַּתֵּר, ...
- Russian:уховертка, подслушивать, ...
- Ukrainian:вуховертка, підслухати, ...
- Hindi:कानखजूरा, भड़काना, ...
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