LOCUSTING

Verb

locusting

present participle of locust

Anagrams

• cloutings

Source: Wiktionary


Lo"cust*ing, p. a.

Definition: Swarming and devastating like locusts. [R.] Tennyson.

LOCUST

Lo"cust, n. Etym: [L. locusta locust, grasshopper. Cf. Lobster.]

1. (Zoöl.)

Definition: Any one of numerous species of long-winged, migratory, orthopterous insects, of the family Acrididæ, allied to the grasshoppers; esp., (Edipoda, or Pachytylus, migratoria, and Acridium perigrinum, of Southern Europe, Asia, and Africa. In the United States the related species with similar habits are usually called grasshoppers. See Grasshopper.

Note: These insects are at times so numerous in Africa and the south of Asia as to devour every green thing; and when they migrate, they fly in an immense cloud. In the United States the harvest flies are improperly called locusts. See Cicada. Locust beetle (Zoöl.), a longicorn beetle (Cyllene robiniæ), which, in the larval state, bores holes in the wood of the locust tree. Its color is brownish black, barred with yellow. Called also locust borer.

– Locust bird (Zoöl.) the rose-colored starling or pastor of India. See Pastor.

– Locust hunter (Zoöl.), an African bird; the beefeater.

2. Etym: [Etymol. uncertain.] (Bot.)

Definition: The locust tree. See Locust Tree (definition, note, and phrases). Locust bean (Bot.), a commercial name for the sweet pod of the carob tree.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition



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Word of the Day

27 December 2024

OBLIGATE

(adjective) restricted to a particular condition of life; “an obligate anaerobe can survive only in the absence of oxygen”


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Coffee Trivia

According to Guinness World Records, the most massive cup of coffee contained 22,739.14 liters and was created by Alcaldía Municipal de Chinchiná (Colombia) at Parque de Bolívar, Chinchiná, Caldas, Colombia, on 15 June 2019. Fifty people worked for more than a month to build this giant cup. The drink prepared was Arabic coffee.

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