οἶστρος

oistros

gadfly, breese

Appears 10 times across Aristotle's works.

Frequency by work

Click a work to list every occurrence by Bekker number — each links into the reader.

History of Animals 9
Open History of Animals ›
Book I 2
Chapter 1 486a5–488b28

487b6

Chapter 5 489a34–490b6

490a20
Book IV 2
Chapter 4 527b35–530a31

528b31

Chapter 7 531b20–532b28

532a10
Book V 2
Chapter 19 550b22–552b25

551b22

Chapter 31 556b21–557a32

557a27
Book VIII 3
Chapter 3 592a28–594a3

592b22

Chapter 11 596b10–18

596b14

Chapter 19 601b9–602b19

602a28
Parts of Animals 1
Open Parts of Animals ›
Book II 1
Chapter 17 660a14–661a30

661a24

Dictionary (LSJ)

οἶστρος, ὁ, A. gadfly, breese, prob. Tabanus bovinus, an insect which infests cattle, τὰς μέν τʼ αἰόλος οἶ. ἐφορμηθεὶς ἐδόνησεν, ὥρῃ ἐν εἰαρινῇ Od. 22.300 ; of the fly that tormented Io, A. Supp. 541(lyr.), Pr. 567 sq. (lyr.) (also called μύωψ, ib.675, Supp. 308 : but the two are distd. by Arist. HA 490a20,596b14). 2. an insect that infests tunny-fish, prob. Brachiella thynni, ib.557a27,602a28. 3. a small insectivorous bird, perh. Sylvia trochilus, ib.592b22. II. metaph., a sting, anything that drives mad, κεραυνοῦ οἶ. E. HF 862 ; οἴστροις Ἐρινύων Id. IT 1456 : abs., the smart of pain, agony, S. Tr. 1254. 2. any vehement desire, insane passion, Hdt. 2.93, E. Hipp. 1300, Pl. R. 577e, etc.; ὄρεξις μετὰ οἴστρου καὶ ἀδημονίας Epicur. Fr. 483 : c. gen. objecti, κτεάνων for wealth, AP 11.389 (Lucill.): generally, madness. frenzy, S. Ant. 1002, E. Or. 791 : pl., Id. Ba. 665 ; μανιάδες οἶ. Id. IA 548(lyr.). 3. in good sense, zeal, οἶ. εἰς πᾶν ἀγαθὸν ἔργον PMasp. 3.13(vi A. D.). III. a throw at dice, Eub. 57.5.

Key passages & sense analysis (Bonitz)

Index Aristotelicus. Hermann Bonitz's sense-by-sense analysis of οἶστρος — with the passages he singles out as decisive for each meaning — will appear here. That curated, interpretive selection is the layer LSJ and a raw concordance don't provide. Digitisation in progress; this entry is not yet available.

‹ All lexicon entries