harvest mite
- noun
- /ˈhɑrvɪst maɪt/
- UK
:
ácaro de la cosecha
- The bite of a harvest mite can cause severe itching and red bumps on the skin.
Examples
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After walking through the field, she noticed several harvest mite bites on her ankles.
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Farmers are often affected by harvest mites during the late summer months.
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The harvest mite is often found in tall grass.
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Many people are allergic to the harvest mite bites.
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After walking through the field, she noticed several harvest mite bites on her ankles.
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The bite of a harvest mite can cause severe itching and red bumps on the skin.
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Farmers are often affected by harvest mites during the late summer months.
Synonyms
27
6.3
A very small animal like a tiny spider that lives on animals, plants, or in food
4
9.9
A tiny red bug whose bite makes the skin very itchy
A tiny creature that burrows into the skin and causes strong itching
A tiny mite that bites people and makes their skin very itchy
A small mite whose young, called chiggers, bite skin and cause itchy welts
A very small white animal that lives on the skin of people or animals and makes them scratch a lot
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'harvest mite' transparently combines 'harvest' (crop/field context) with 'mite' (a tiny arachnid), so a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it is a small mite associated with harvests or fields. However, the precise biological details in the definition — that it is a larval stage that feeds on vertebrate blood and causes severe skin irritation — are not predictable from the constituents alone, making the term only partially transparent.
Etymology
Harvest mite comes from the tiny mite that appears in fields at harvest time, when people and animals work in the crops. These baby mites 'bite' and cause 'itching' and red bumps, so the name now means a very small parasite that feeds on skin.