beetle
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
beetle1
▶noun
- 1 an insect of a large order distinguished by having forewings modified into hard wing cases that cover and protect the hindwings and abdomen. [Order Coleoptera: many species.]
- 2 Brit. a dice game in which a picture of a beetle is drawn or assembled.
– origin OE bitula, bitela ‘biter’, from the base of bītan ‘to bite’.
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
beetle2
▶noun
- 1 a very heavy mallet.
- 2 a machine used for heightening the lustre of cloth by pressure from rollers.
- 1 ram, crush, or drive in with a beetle.
- 2 finish (cloth) with a beetle.
– origin OE bētel, of Gmc origin.
Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
beetle3
▶verb (usu. as adj. beetling) (especially of a person's eyebrows) project or overhang.
– derivatives
beetle-browed adjective.
beetle-browed adjective.
– origin C16: back-form. from beetle-browed (ME).
'beetle' also found in these Oxford entries:
ambrosia beetle
- bark beetle
- beetle-crusher
- black beetle
- blister beetle
- bombardier beetle
- bookworm
- burying beetle
- carabid
- caravel
- carpet beetle
- carrion beetle
- chafer
- click beetle
- cockchafer
- cockroach
- Colorado beetle
- death-watch beetle
- devil's coach-horse
- diving beetle
- dor beetle
- doryphore
- dung beetle
- elytron
- firefly
- flea beetle
- furniture beetle
- glow-worm
- goliath beetle
- grub
- Hercules beetle
- Japanese beetle
- jewel beetle
- June bug
- ladybird
- -le
- leaf beetle
- longhorn beetle
- longicorn
- maul
- meal beetle
- mealworm
- museum beetle
- oil beetle
- rhinoceros beetle
- rove beetle
- sawyer
