Definitions for beetle
ˈbit lbee·tle

Princeton's WordNetRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. beetlenoun

   insect having biting mouthparts and front wings modified to form horny covers overlying the membranous rear wings

2. mallet, beetleadjective

   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 smoothing

3. beetle, beetlingverb

   jutting or overhanging

   "beetle brows"

4. overhang, beetleverb

   be suspended over or hang over

   "This huge rock beetles over the edge of the town"

5. beetleverb

   fly or go in a manner resembling a beetle

   "He beetled up the staircase"; "They beetled off home"

6. beetleverb

   beat with a beetle

Samuel Johnson's DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. BEETLEnoun

   Etymology: bytel, Saxon.

   1. An insect distinguished by having hard cases or sheaths, under which he folds his wings.

   They are as shards, and he their beetle. William Shakespeare, Ant. and Cleop.

   The poor beetle, that we tread upon,
   In corporal suff’rance finds a pang as great,
   As when a giant dies. William Shakespeare, Measure for Measure.

   Others come in place, sharp of sight, and too provident for that which concerned their own interest; but as blind as beetles in foreseeing this great and common danger. Richard Knolles, History of the Turks.

   A grott there was with hoary moss o’ergrown,
   The clasping ivies up the ruins creep,
   And there the bat and drowsy beetle sleep. Samuel Garth.

   The butterflies and beetles are such numerous tribes, that I believe, in our own native country alone, the species of each kind may amount to one hundred and fifty, or more. John Ray.

   2. A heavy mallet, or wooden hammer, with which wedges are driven.

   If I do, fillip me with a three-man beetle. William Shakespeare, Henry IV.

   When, by the help of wedges and beetles, an image is cleft out of the trunk of some well grown tree; yet, after all the skill of artificers to set forth such a divine block, it cannot, one moment, secure itself from being eaten by worms, or defiled by birds, or cut in pieces by axes. Edward Stillingfleet.

2. To Beetleverb

   To jut out; to hang over.

   Etymology: from the noun.

   What if it tempt you tow’rd the flood, my lord?
   Or to the dreadful summit of the cliff,
   That beetles o’er his base into the sea. William Shakespeare, Hamlet.

   Or where the hawk,
   High in the beetling cliff, his airy builds. James Thomson, Spring.

WikipediaRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Beetle

   Beetles are insects that form the order Coleoptera (), in the superorder Endopterygota. Their front pair of wings are hardened into wing-cases, elytra, distinguishing them from most other insects. The Coleoptera, with about 400,000 described species, is the largest of all orders, constituting almost 40% of described insects and 25% of all known animal life-forms; new species are discovered frequently, with estimates suggesting that there are between 0.9 and 2.1 million total species. Found in almost every habitat except the sea and the polar regions, they interact with their ecosystems in several ways: beetles often feed on plants and fungi, break down animal and plant debris, and eat other invertebrates. Some species are serious agricultural pests, such as the Colorado potato beetle, while others such as Coccinellidae (ladybirds or ladybugs) eat aphids, scale insects, thrips, and other plant-sucking insects that damage crops. Beetles typically have a particularly hard exoskeleton including the elytra, though some such as the rove beetles have very short elytra while blister beetles have softer elytra. The general anatomy of a beetle is quite uniform and typical of insects, although there are several examples of novelty, such as adaptations in water beetles which trap air bubbles under the elytra for use while diving. Beetles are endopterygotes, which means that they undergo complete metamorphosis, with a series of conspicuous and relatively abrupt changes in body structure between hatching and becoming adult after a relatively immobile pupal stage. Some, such as stag beetles, have a marked sexual dimorphism, the males possessing enormously enlarged mandibles which they use to fight other males. Many beetles are aposematic, with bright colors and patterns warning of their toxicity, while others are harmless Batesian mimics of such insects. Many beetles, including those that live in sandy places, have effective camouflage. Beetles are prominent in human culture, from the sacred scarabs of ancient Egypt to beetlewing art and use as pets or fighting insects for entertainment and gambling. Many beetle groups are brightly and attractively colored making them objects of collection and decorative displays. Over 300 species are used as food, mostly as larvae; species widely consumed include mealworms and rhinoceros beetle larvae. However, the major impact of beetles on human life is as agricultural, forestry, and horticultural pests. Serious pests include the boll weevil of cotton, the Colorado potato beetle, the coconut hispine beetle, and the mountain pine beetle. Most beetles, however, do not cause economic damage and many, such as the lady beetles and dung beetles are beneficial by helping to control insect pests.

ChatGPTRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. beetle

   A beetle is a type of insect characterized by a hard exoskeleton and hard forewings (elytra) that cover the back side of the body and protect the softer hind wings. They are part of the Coleoptera order, one of the largest groups in the animal kingdom, with more than 350,000 species known worldwide. Beetles may vary vastly in size, color and shape, and can be found in nearly all habitats, but they are not present in the sea or the polar regions. Many beetle species are beneficial to the environment as they help to control other pests, while some are considered pests themselves.

Webster DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Beetleverb

   a heavy mallet, used to drive wedges, beat pavements, etc

2. Beetleverb

   a machine in which fabrics are subjected to a hammering process while passing over rollers, as in cotton mills; -- called also beetling machine

3. Beetleverb

   to beat with a heavy mallet

4. Beetleverb

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

5. Beetleverb

   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

6. Beetleverb

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

WikidataRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Beetle

   The Coleoptera order of insects is commonly called beetles. The word "coleoptera" is from the Greek κολεός, koleos, meaning "sheath"; and πτερόν, pteron, meaning "wing", thus "sheathed wing", because most beetles have two pairs of wings, the front pair, the "elytra", being hardened and thickened into a sheath-like, or shell-like, protection for the rear pair, and for the rear part of the beetle's body. The superficial consistency of most beetles' morphology, in particular their possession of elytra, has long suggested that the Coleoptera are monophyletic, but growing evidence indicates this is unjustified, there being arguments, for example, in favour of allocating the current suborder Adephaga their own order, or very likely even more than one.

Chambers 20th Century DictionaryRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. Beetle

   bē′tl, n. an order of insects technically known as Coleoptera, usually with four wings, the front pair forming hard and horny covers for those behind, which alone are used in flight.—The Black Beetle or cockroach is not a true beetle. [M.E. bityl—A.S. bitula, bitela, bítan, to bite.]

2. Beetle

   bē′tl, n. a heavy wooden mallet used for driving wedges, crushing or beating down paving-stones, or the like: a wooden pestle-shaped utensil for mashing potatoes, beating linen, &c.—n. Bee′tle-head, a heavy, stupid fellow.—adj. Bee′tle-head′ed. [A.S. bíetel; cog. with béatan, to beat.]

Dictionary of Nautical TermsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. beetle

   A shipwright's heavy mallet for driving the wedges called reeming irons, so as to open the seams in order to caulk. (See REEMING.)

Surnames Frequency by Census RecordsRate this definition:0.0 / 0 votes

1. BEETLE

   According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Beetle is ranked #125282 in terms of the most common surnames in America.
   
   The Beetle surname appeared 137 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 would have the surname Beetle.
   
   92.7% or 127 total occurrences were White.
   3.6% or 5 total occurrences were of Hispanic origin.

Matched Categories

1. • Beat
   • Hang
   • Insect
   • Move

How to pronounce beetle?

1. Alex

   US English

   David

   US English

   Mark

   US English

   Daniel

   British

   Libby

   British

   Mia

   British

   Karen

   Australian

   Hayley

   Australian

   Natasha

   Australian

   Veena

   Indian

   Priya

   Indian

   Neerja

   Indian

   Zira

   US English

   Oliver

   British

   Wendy

   British

   Fred

   US English

   Tessa

   South African

How to say beetle in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of beetle in Chaldean Numerology is: 6

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of beetle in Pythagorean Numerology is: 4

Examples of beetle in a Sentence

1. Jim Lee:

   He also ushered in a slew of unique, very personal and eclectic characters for DC such as the Question, Blue Beetle, Hawk and Dove and more, polite and unassuming -- he never sought attention or the limelight but in many ways represented the hidden hero he saw in all of us. #RIPsteveditko.

2. Richard Livingstone:

   There is no virtue in being uncritical nor is it a habit to which the young are given. But criticism is only the burying beetle that gets rid of what is dead, and, since the world lives by creative and constructive forces, and not by negation and destruction, it is better to grow up in the company of prophets than of critics.

3. Sam Hodder:

   A giant sequoia that was weakened by drought was then subject to impacts by the bark beetle, which then further weakened the tree and made it more susceptible to mortality from fire.

4. Anna Malinowska:

   The problem is that several years ago there was an outbreak of bark beetle and it got worse, the only way to solve the problem is to cut down affected trees. This was not done and so the (infestation) spread.

5. Czeslaw Okolow:

   In the area of the national park, no one has fought the beetle since 1921.

Popularity rank by frequency of use

References

1. ^ Princeton's WordNet
   http://wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn?s=beetle
2. ^ Samuel Johnson's Dictionary
   https://johnsonsdictionaryonline.com/views/search.php?term=beetle
3. ^ Wikipedia
   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beetle
4. ^ ChatGPT
   https://chat.openai.com
5. ^ Webster Dictionary
   https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/beetle
6. ^ Wikidata
   https://www.wikidata.org/w/index.php?search=beetle
7. ^ Chambers 20th Century Dictionary
   https://www.gutenberg.org/files/37683/37683-h/37683-h.htm#:~:text=beetle
8. ^ Dictionary of Nautical Terms
   https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/26000/pg26000-images.html#:~:text=beetle
9. ^ Surnames Frequency by Census Records
   https://www.census.gov/topics/population/genealogy/data/2010_surnames.html