pyralis

See also: Pyralis

English

Photinus pyralis

Pyralis centralis

Noun

pyralis (plural pyralises or pyralides)

1. A species of firefly, Photinus pyralis
   • 1922, E.-L. Bouvier, The Psychic Life of Insects, page 9:

     As Loeb has shown by many experiments, the phototropic phenomena of animals differ not at all from those of plants, and they carry no more psychism in a polyp or in a pyralis than in a geranium or in a volvox.

   • 1968, The Conservationist - Volumes 23-24, page 169:

     If you have an opportunity to experiment with Photinus pyralis, try the following: Start a male toward you by answering him properly, that is, as a pyralis female would answer him, once or twice.

   • 1986, Robert W. Mitchell, Nicholas S. Thompson, Deception: Perspectives on Human and Nonhuman Deceit, →ISBN, page 114:

     When a pyralis female sees a flash of the appropriate characteristics, she waits 2 seconds and then emits her own half-second flash.

2. A moth of the genus Pyralis.
   • 1850, Gardeners Chronicle & New Horticulturist - Volume 10, page 277:

     This once happened in a hemp field destroyed by a pyralis, described by me in a special memoir.

   • 1907, Sugar - Volume 9, page 333:

     At first there was a belief that the caterpillar was that of a pyralis like that which caused such great loss to beet growers in southern Russia, Roumania and North America.

   • 1962, Memorie della Società entomologica italiana:

     What would have been the opinion of the public, seeing e.g. a butterfly and a pyralis placed in the same genus ?

Anagrams

• raspily

Latin

Etymology 1

From Ancient Greek πυραλίς (puralís).

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /ˈpy.ra.lis/, [ˈpʏrälʲɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /ˈpi.ra.lis/, [ˈpiːrälis]

Noun

pyralis f (genitive pyralidis); third declension

1. a winged insect that was supposed to live in fire

Declension

Third-declension noun.

	singular	plural
nominative	pyralis	pyralidēs
genitive	pyralidis	pyralidum
dative	pyralidī	pyralidibus
accusative	pyralidem	pyralidēs
ablative	pyralide	pyralidibus
vocative	pyralis	pyralidēs

Etymology 2

pyra +‎ -ālis

Pronunciation

• (Classical Latin) IPA^(key): /pyˈraː.lis/, [pʏˈräːlʲɪs̠]
• (modern Italianate Ecclesiastical) IPA^(key): /piˈra.lis/, [piˈräːlis]

Adjective

pyrālis (neuter pyrāle); third-declension two-termination adjective

1. (relational) funeral pyre

Declension

Third-declension two-termination adjective.

	singular			plural
	masc./fem.	neuter		masc./fem.	neuter
nominative	pyrālis	pyrāle		pyrālēs	pyrālia
genitive	pyrālis			pyrālium
dative	pyrālī			pyrālibus
accusative	pyrālem	pyrāle		pyrālēs pyrālīs	pyrālia
ablative	pyrālī			pyrālibus
vocative	pyrālis	pyrāle		pyrālēs	pyrālia

Related terms

• pyra

References

• “pyralis”, in Charlton T. Lewis and Charles Short (1879) A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
• pyralis in Gaffiot, Félix (1934) Dictionnaire illustré latin-français, Hachette.