Spanish fly


noun

Also called cantharides. a preparation of powdered blister beetles, especially the Spanish fly, used medicinally as a counterirritant, diuretic, and aphrodisiac.
Also Span·ish·fly. Also called cantharis. a common European blister beetle, Cantharis (Lytta) vesicatoria, that yields this preparation.

Origin of Spanish fly

First recorded in 1400–50; so called from the fact that the beetles are found in abundance in Spain

Example sentences from the Web for spanish fly

British Dictionary definitions for spanish fly

Spanish fly

noun

a European blister beetle, Lytta vesicatoria (family Meloidae), the dried bodies of which yield the pharmaceutical product cantharides
another name for cantharides