beetle

Noun · Verb · Adjective
US[bee-tuhl]/ˈbitəl/2 syllables

Open English WordNet

Noun (2)beetles

  1. insect having biting mouthparts and front wings modified to form horny covers overlying the membranous rear wingsType of insectKinds leaf beetle, clerid beetle, weevil, whirligig beetle, rove beetle, carpet beetle, elaterid beetle, firefly, lamellicorn beetle, bark beetle +8 moreMember of Coleoptera, order Coleoptera
  2. a tool resembling a hammer but with a large head (usually wooden); used to drive wedges or ram down paving stones or for crushing or beating or flattening or smoothingSynonyms: malletType of hammerKinds gavel, carpenter's mallet

Verb (3)beetles, beetled, beetling

  1. be suspended over or hang over“This huge rock beetles over the edge of the town”Synonyms: overhangMore general hang
  2. fly or go in a manner resembling a beetle“He beetled up the staircase”“They beetled off home”More general travel, go
  3. beat with a beetleMore general beat

Adjective (1)

  1. jutting or overhanging“beetle brows”Synonyms: beetlingOpposite intrusiveSimilar protrusive
Word of the day · Sep 29About this word
haphazardadjective

What does it mean? Question 1 of today’s quiz

Advertisement

Translations

Noun insect

Spanish
escarabajo
French
scarabée
German
Käfer
Italian
coleottero
Portuguese
besouro
Russian
жук žuk
Arabic
خُنْفُسَاء ḵunfusāʔ
Chinese
甲虫 jiǎchóng
Japanese
甲虫 kōchū
33 more languages
Dutch
kever
Swedish
skalbagge
Greek
σκαθάρι skathári
Korean
딱정벌레 ttakjeongbeolle
Indonesian
kumbang
Hungarian
bogár
Portuguese (PT)
escaravelho
Chinese (Trad.)
甲蟲 jiǎchóng
Albanian
brumbull
Breton
c'hwil
Catalan
escarabat
Czech
brouk
Danish
bille
Esperanto
skarabo
Estonian
mardikas
Georgian
ხოჭო xoč̣o
Hebrew
חִפּוּשִׁית khipushít
Icelandic
bjalla
Latvian
vabole
Lithuanian
vabalas
Malagasy
borera
Norwegian
bille
Romanian
gândac
Scottish Gaelic
daol
Serbo-Croatian
tvrdokrilac
Slovak
chrobák
Slovenian
hrošč
Swahili
mbawakavu
Welsh
chwilen
Yiddish
דזשוכע dzhukhe

The main translation for each meaning, from the langtolang.com multilingual dictionary. Each word links to its full entry there.

Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Bee′tle (bē′t'l), noun

Origin: OE. betel, AS. bītl, mallet, hammer, fr. beátan to beat. See Beat, transitive verb

1. A heavy mallet, used to drive wedges, beat pavements, etc.

2. A machine in which fabrics are subjected to a hammering process while passing over rollers, as in cotton mills; — called also beetling machine. Knight, Edward Henry


Bee′tle (bē′t'l), transitive verb [past tense & past participle Beetled (-t'ld); present participle & verbal noun Beetling.]

1. To beat with a heavy mallet.

2. To finish by subjecting to a hammering process in a beetle or beetling machine; as, to beetle cotton goods.


Bee′tle noun

Origin: OE. bityl, bittle, AS. bītel, fr. bītan to bite. See Bite, transitive verb

Any insect of the order Coleoptera, having four wings, the outer pair being stiff cases for covering the others when they are folded up. See Coleoptera.

Beetle mite Zoology, one of many species of mites, of the family Oribatidæ, parasitic on beetles. — Black beetle, the common large black cockroach (Blatta orientalis).


Bee′tle intransitive verb

Origin: See Beetlebrowed.

To extend over and beyond the base or support; to overhang; to jut.

To the dreadful summit of the cliff That beetles o'er his base into the sea.— William Shakespeare
Each beetling rampart, and each tower sublime.— William Wordsworth

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54

Advertisement