American Dictionary of the English Language

WASP, noun [G., Latin ] In entomology, a genus of insects, Vespa, of the order of Hymenopters. The mouth is horny, the jaw compressed, without a proboscis; the feelers four, unequal and filiform; the eyes lunated; the body smooth; the sting concealed, and the upper wings plicated. Wasps construct combs, and rear their young in the cells. The sting is painful.