Dictionary
Span'ish fly'
1. Also called
cantharides. a preparation of powdered blister beetles, esp. the Spanish fly, used medicinally as a counterirritant, diuretic, and aphrodisiac.
2. Also,Span'ish•fly".Also called
cantharis. a common European blister beetle,
Cantharis (
Lytta)
vesicatoria, that yields this preparation.
Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Copyright © 1997, by Random House, Inc., on Infoplease.