Noun

(en noun)

A minute arachnid, of the order Acarina, of which there are many species; as, the cheese mite, sugar mite, harvest mite, etc. See Acarina.

A small coin formerly circulated in England, rated at about a third of a farthing.

*1803 , William Blake,

*:One mite wrung from the lab'rer's hands

*:Shall buy and sell the miser's lands;

A lepton, a small coin used in Palestine in the time of Christ.

A small weight; one twentieth of a grain.

Anything very small; a minute object; a very little quantity or particle. Sometimes used adverbially.

* , chapter=5

, title= Mr. Pratt's Patients , passage=“Well,” I says, “I cal'late a body could get used to Tophet if he stayed there long enough.” ¶ She flared up; the least mite of a slam at Doctor Wool was enough to set her going.}}

* 1959 , Frances Cavanah, Abe Lincoln Gets His Chance , Project Gutenberg, [http://www.gutenberg.org/files/17315/17315-8.txt]:

"Those trousers are a mite too big, but you'll soon grow into them."

Noun

(thrips)

Any of the many small insects of the order Thysanoptera, especially those that attack useful plants.

* 1919', Frank Hurlbut Chittenden, ''Control of the Onion '''Thrips , page 9,

The turnrows and margins of the fields should be cultivated often enough to prevent the growth of weeds, many forms of which harbor the onion thrips .

* 2002', '''''Thrips'' , article in ''International Wildlife Encyclopedia Volume 19, Picture caption, page 2676,

The thousands of thrips species include among their number the smallest of all winged insects.

* 2004 , Steve H. Dreistadt, Pests of Landscape Trees and Shrubs: An Integrated Pest Management Guide , Picture caption, page 157,

Bleaching and stippling on viburnum foliage infested with greenhouse thrips'. Because this sluggish ' thrips feeds openly on the underside of leaves, it is controlled by thorough coverage with insecticidal soap or oil.