Etymology

Noun

1. The Spanish fly, Lytta vesicatoria, taken to have aphrodisiac properties.
   • 1964, Anthony Burgess, Nothing Like The Sun:

     Speaking her name, it was as if he spake pure cantharides. ‘Quick,’ she panted. ‘There is time before they are all about. Again.’

   • 1992, Will Self, Cock and Bull:

     It’s lucky that Carol had taken the precaution of obtaining some cantharides; without them the evening might have been a dead loss.

   • 2006, Thomas Pynchon, Against the Day, Vintage 2007, p. 612:

     Basically Louis's drug dealer and pimp, Richelieu, known for opium recipes to fit all occasions, is also credited with the introduction into France of the cantharides, or Spanish fly.

Etymology

Noun

1. The Spanish fly, Lytta vesicatoria, and the poison of it.
2. A worm injurious to the vine and rose.