a. Obs. [f. L. bombylius, a. Gr. βομβυλιός a humble-bee or other buzzing insect (f. βόμβος boom, hum), now made the generic name of a dipterous insect, the Humble-bee Fly.] Buzzing, humming, like a large bee.
1713. Derham, Phys.-Theol., IV. xiv. 249. The Horse Fly … is vexatious to horses—not by stinging them, but only by their bombylious noise. [mispr. bombylicus; bombilious is an error of recent Dicts.]
