tsetse
t seet see
- n bloodsucking African fly; transmits sleeping sickness etc.
- The African types, borne by the tsetse fly, cause African sleeping sickness, which kills 10,000 to 20,000 natives yearly.
- In the Belgian Congo the dread tsetse fly, transmitter of African sleeping sickness, was a menace.
- The tsetse looks something like an ordinary housefly, but has the sharp proboscis and the bloodthirsty habits of a mosquito.