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Glite Dictionary
🪰 A large fly 🕷️ A long-legged spider
daddy longlegs

daddy longlegs

3.2
A small animal like a spider, not a fly, with a round body and very long thin legs
  • noun
  • /ˈdædi ˈlɔŋˌlɛɡz/
  • UK
translation icon : araña patona
  • Despite its appearance, the daddy longlegs is harmless to humans.

Examples

  • Children are often fascinated by the delicate legs of a daddy longlegs.

  • A daddy longlegs was crawling across the kitchen ceiling.

  • Look at that daddy longlegs on the wall!

  • I spotted a daddy longlegs crawling across the floor.

  • A daddy longlegs crawled slowly across the garden path as we admired its long, thin legs.

  • While cleaning the house, I noticed a daddy longlegs hiding in the corner of the ceiling.

  • The children were fascinated by the daddy longlegs they found under a rock during their nature walk.

Synonyms

harvestman
vsdaddy longlegs
1 9.9

A small animal like a spider with a rounded body and very long thin legs

adds a note that it is commonly found in gardens and houses
Phalangium
vsdaddy longlegs
  • Specialized
1 9.9

A small animal like a spider with a single rounded body and very long thin legs

is the common name used more often in everyday habitat descriptions
Phalangium opilio
vsdaddy longlegs
  • Specialized
9.9

A small round animal like a spider with very long thin legs often called a daddy longlegs

refers more broadly to the same arachnid and mentions habitat
Phalangiidae
vsdaddy longlegs
  • Specialized
9.9

A group of small animals similar to spiders with very long thin legs and small round bodies

is the everyday name often used for individual sightings in homes and gardens

How Long-Legged

daddy longlegs
  • UK
3.2
crane fly
5.6
spider
327 1.0

Surface Forms

daddy longlegs singular
daddy longlegs plural

Morphology

daddy + longlegs

The compound literally combines 'daddy' + 'longlegs' to describe a creature characterized by very long legs; a B1 learner who knows 'daddy', 'long' and 'legs' would reasonably infer it refers to an animal with notably long thin legs. This is a descriptive, non-idiomatic name rather than a metaphorical or culture-specific idiom, so the meaning is compositionally derivable from its parts.

Etymology

Daddy longlegs may come from the sight of a small, round-bodied, spider-like creature with very thin, long legs, which made people picture a tiny daddy with long legs. That's why the name is used for the harmless, long-legged animal you find on walls and in gardens.