*parasite*

n. [ Endo- + parasite. ] (Zoöl.) Any parasite which lives in the internal organs of an animal, as the tapeworms, Trichina, etc.; -- opposed to ectoparasite. See Entozoön. -- En`do*par`a*sit"ic a. [1913 Webster]

. Any of several minute protozoans of the genus Plasmodium (syn. Haematozoon) which in their adult condition live in the tissues of mosquitoes of the genus Anopheles (which see) and when transferred to the blood of man, by the bite of the mosquito, produce malaria. The young parasites, or sporozoites, enter the red blood corpuscles, growing at their expense, undergoing sporulation, and finally destroying the corpuscles, thus liberating in the blood plasma an immense number of small spores called merozoites. An indefinite but not ultimated number of such generations may follow, but if meanwhile the host is bitten by a mosquito, the parasites develop into gametes in the stomach of the insect. These conjugate, the zygote thus produced divides, forming spores, and eventually sporozoites, which, penetrating to the salivary glands of the mosquito, may be introduced into a new host. The attacks of the disease coincide with the dissolution of the corpuscles and liberation of the spores and products of growth of the parasites into the blood plasma. Several species of the parasite are distinguished, as Plasmodium vivax, producing tertian malaria; Plasmodium malariae, quartan malaria; and Plasmodium (subgenus Laverania) falciferum, the malarial fever of summer and autumn common in the tropics. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. A parasitic microorganism. -- Mi`cro*par`a*sit"ic a. [Webster 1913 Suppl.]

n. [ F., fr. L. parasitus, Gr. para`sitos, lit., eating beside, or at the table of, another; para` beside + sitei^n to feed, from sitos wheat, grain, food. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

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. [ 1913 Webster ]

Thou, with trembling fear,
Or like a fawning parasite, obey'st. Milton. [ 1913 Webster ]

Parasites were called such smell-feasts as would seek to be free guests at rich men's tables. Udall. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) (a) A plant obtaining nourishment immediately from other plants to which it attaches itself, and whose juices it absorbs; -- sometimes, but erroneously, called epiphyte. (b) A plant living on or within an animal, and supported at its expense, as many species of fungi of the genus Torrubia. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. (Zool.) (a) 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. (b) An animal which steals the food of another, as the parasitic jager. (c) An animal which habitually uses the nest of another, as the cowbird and the European cuckoo. [ 1913 Webster ]