n. — Newfoundland, dated, Fauna
an ant.
Type: 2. Preservation — The term emmet is a dialectal name in Newfoundland and Labrador English for a type of small insect, the ant. Deriving from Old English "ǣmette" (see AHD-5, s.v. "emmet"), the term is a preservation from British English, marked as both "Engl dial" (see DARE, s.v. "emmet") and "now chiefly Brit. regional" (see OED-3, s.v. "emmet").
The preservation of the term emmet can be contextualized by Clarke's (2010b: 103) discussion of the conservative nature of the NLE lexicon. The term is often labelled as archaic or obsolete in British dialects, while it is still in use in NLE (see the 1991 quotation).
See COD-2, s.v. "emmet", which is described as "common in Newfoundland."