potter wasp
    n 1: any of various solitary wasps that construct vase-shaped
         cells of mud for their eggs

Potter \Pot"ter\, n. [Cf. F. potier.]
   1. One whose occupation is to make earthen vessels. --Ps. ii.
      9.
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            The potter heard, and stopped his wheel.
                                                  --Longfellow.
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   2. One who hawks crockery or earthenware. [Prov. Eng.] --De
      Quincey.
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   3. One who pots meats or other eatables.
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   4. (Zool.) The red-bellied terrapin. See Terrapin.
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   Potter's asthma (Med.), emphysema of the lungs; -- so
      called because very prevalent among potters. --Parkers.

   Potter's clay. See under Clay.

   Potter's field, a public burial place, especially in a
      city, for paupers, unknown persons, and criminals; -- so
      named from the field south of Jerusalem, mentioned in
      --Matt. xxvii. 7.

   Potter's ore. See Alquifou.

   Potter's wheel, a horizontal revolving disk on which the
      clay is molded into form with the hands or tools. "My
      thoughts are whirled like a potter's wheel." --Shak.

   Potter wasp (Zool.), a small solitary wasp (Eumenes
      fraternal) which constructs a globular nest of mud and
      sand in which it deposits insect larv[ae], such as
      cankerworms, as food for its young.
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Wasp \Wasp\, n. [OE. waspe, AS. w[ae]ps, w[ae]fs; akin to D.
   wesp, G. wespe, OHG. wafsa, wefsa, Lith. vapsa gadfly, Russ.
   osa wasp, L. vespa, and perhaps to E. weave.] (Zool.)
   Any one of numerous species of stinging hymenopterous
   insects, esp. any of the numerous species of the genus
   Vespa, which includes the true, or social, wasps, some of
   which are called yellow jackets.
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   Note: The social wasps make a complex series of combs, of a
         substance like stiff paper, often of large size, and
         protect them by a paperlike covering. The larvae are
         reared in the cells of the combs, and eat insects and
         insect larvae brought to them by the adults, but the
         latter feed mainly on the honey and pollen of flowers,
         and on the sweet juices of fruit. See Illust. in
         Appendix.
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   Digger wasp, any one of numerous species of solitary wasps
      that make their nests in burrows which they dig in the
      ground, as the sand wasps. See Sand wasp, under Sand.
      

   Mud wasp. See under Mud.

   Potter wasp. See under Potter.

   Wasp fly, a species of fly resembling a wasp, but without a
      sting.
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