SG Heritage Dictionary

Parasite [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1828

1. In ancient Greece, a priest or minister of the gods whose office was to gather of the husbandman the corn allotted for public sacrifices. The parasites also superintended the sacrifices.

2. In modern usage, a trencher friend; one that frequents the tables of the rich and earns his welcome by flattery; a hanger on; a fawning flatterer.

3. In botany, a plant growing on the stem or branch of another plant and receiving its nourishment from it, as the mistletoe.

Parasite [Noun] Webster's Dictionary 1913

1. One who frequents the tables of the rich, or who lives at another's expense, and earns his welcome by flattery; a hanger-on; a toady; a sycophant.

2. A plant obtaining nourishment immediately from other plants to which it attaches itself, and whose juices it absorbs; -- sometimes, but erroneously, called epiphyte.

3. A plant living on or within an animal, and supported at its expense, as many species of fungi of the genus Torrubia.

4. An animal which lives during the whole or part of its existence on or in the body of some other animal, feeding upon its food, blood, or tissues, as lice, tapeworms, etc.

5. An animal which steals the food of another, as the parasitic jager.

6. An animal which habitually uses the nest of another, as the cowbird and the European cuckoo.