beetle
From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary EnglishInsectsbeetlebee‧tle1 /ˈbiːtl/ noun [countable]
HBIan insect with a round hard back that is usually blackExamples from the Corpusbeetle• You know that story of the man who wakes up and finds he's turned into a beetle?• A group identity, the way they say black beetles do?• If you are curious about the bombardier beetle, by the way, what actually happens is as follows.• It is found mainly in timbers less than fifty years old and is a much larger insect than the furniture beetle.• The house longhorn beetle is another insect pest which seems to be confined to parts of Hampshire and south-west Surrey.• Three hundred thousand kinds of beetles are known, far more than any other group.• The presence of beetles is acknowledged as an indicator of the general health of the forest.• There also were beetles crawling on the ice in slow motion. beetlebeetle2 verb [intransitive always + adverb/preposition] British English informalHURRYto go somewhere quickly and leaning forward SYN scurryHe went beetling off down the corridor.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpusbeetle• The little mouth was born with a scowl, the brows positively beetle over the turned-up be-ringed breathing apparatus.• They beetled past; a game to top each other's sniggers.• Crowe offered a pathetic excuse about investigating woodworm infestation for his nature column, but I soon beetled the truth out of him.• It is useless to beetle your brow in what you clearly believe to be a threatening fashion.BeetleBeetle British English (also Bug infml American English)a small car made by Volkswagen which has a high, rounded top. It was first produced in the 1930s and has been popular ever since because of its unusual shape. In 1998 a Beetle with a completely new design went on sale.Origin beetle Old English bitula, from bitan; → BITE1
HBIan insect with a round hard back that is usually blackExamples from the Corpusbeetle• You know that story of the man who wakes up and finds he's turned into a beetle?• A group identity, the way they say black beetles do?• If you are curious about the bombardier beetle, by the way, what actually happens is as follows.• It is found mainly in timbers less than fifty years old and is a much larger insect than the furniture beetle.• The house longhorn beetle is another insect pest which seems to be confined to parts of Hampshire and south-west Surrey.• Three hundred thousand kinds of beetles are known, far more than any other group.• The presence of beetles is acknowledged as an indicator of the general health of the forest.• There also were beetles crawling on the ice in slow motion. beetlebeetle2 verb [intransitive always + adverb/preposition] British English informalHURRYto go somewhere quickly and leaning forward SYN scurryHe went beetling off down the corridor.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpusbeetle• The little mouth was born with a scowl, the brows positively beetle over the turned-up be-ringed breathing apparatus.• They beetled past; a game to top each other's sniggers.• Crowe offered a pathetic excuse about investigating woodworm infestation for his nature column, but I soon beetled the truth out of him.• It is useless to beetle your brow in what you clearly believe to be a threatening fashion.BeetleBeetle British English (also Bug infml American English)a small car made by Volkswagen which has a high, rounded top. It was first produced in the 1930s and has been popular ever since because of its unusual shape. In 1998 a Beetle with a completely new design went on sale.Origin beetle Old English bitula, from bitan; → BITE1