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Definition of 'gnat'

noun

Any of various small biting flies: midges; biting midges; black flies; sand flies

noun

(British usage) mosquito

From: GCIDE

Gnat \Gnat\, n. [AS. gn[ae]t.]
1. (Zool.) A blood-sucking dipterous fly, of the genus Culex, undergoing a metamorphosis in water. The females have a proboscis armed with needlelike organs for penetrating the skin of animals. These are wanting in the males. In America they are generally called mosquitoes. See Mosquito. [1913 Webster]
2. Any fly resembling a Culex in form or habits; esp., in America, a small biting fly of the genus Simulium and allies, as the buffalo gnat, the black fly, etc. [1913 Webster]
Gnat catcher (Zool.), one of several species of small American singing birds, of the genus Polioptila, allied to the kinglets.
Gnat flower, the bee flower.
Gnat hawk (Zool.), the European goatsucker; -- called also gnat owl.
Gnat snapper (Zool.), a bird that catches gnats.
Gnat strainer, a person ostentatiously punctilious about trifles. Cf. --Matt. xxiii. 24. [1913 Webster]

Gnat only in Matt. 23:24, a small two-winged stinging fly of the genus Culex, which includes mosquitoes. Our Lord alludes here to the gnat in a proverbial expression probably in common use, "who strain out the gnat;" the words in the Authorized Version, "strain at a gnat," being a mere typographical error, which has been corrected in the Revised Version. The custom of filtering wine for this purpose was common among the Jews. It was founded on Lev. 11:23. It is supposed that the "lice," Ex. 8:16 (marg. R.V., "sand-flies"), were a species of gnat.