beetle
pronunciation
How to pronounce beetle in British English:
UK [ˈbiːtl]
How to pronounce beetle in American English:
US [ˈbiːtl]
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- Noun:
- insect having biting mouthparts and front wings modified to form horny covers overlying the membranous rear wings
- 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
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- Verb:
- be suspended over or hang over
- fly or go in a manner resembling a beetle
- beat with a beetle
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- Adjective:
- jutting or overhanging
Word Origin
- beetle
- beetle: English has three separate words beetle. The commonest, beetle the insect, comes from Old English bitula, which was a derivative of the verb bītan ‘bite’: beetle hence means etymologically ‘the biter’. Beetle ‘hammer’, now largely restricted to various technical contexts, is also Old English: the earliest English form, bētel, goes back to a prehistoric Germanic *bautilaz, a derivative of the verb *bautan, from which English gets beat (the cognate Old Norse beytill meant ‘penis’).The adjective beetle [14], as in ‘beetle brows’, and its related verb are of unknown origin, although it has been speculated that there is some connection with the tufted antennae of certain species of beetle, which may suggest eyebrows.=> bite; beat
- beetle (n.1)
- type of insect, Old English bitela "beetle," literally "little biter," from bitel "biting," related to bitan "to bite" (see bite). As a nickname for the original Volkswagen car, 1946, translating German Käfer.
- beetle (v.)
- "project, overhang," c. 1600, back-formation from bitelbrouwed "grim-browed, sullen" (mid-14c.), from bitel "sharp-edged, sharp" (c. 1200), probably a compound from Old English *bitol "biting, sharp," related to bite, + brow, which in Middle English meant "eyebrow," not "forehead." Meaning "to overhang dangerously" (of cliffs, etc.) is from c. 1600. Related: Beetled; beetling.
- beetle (n.2)
- beating tool, Old English bietel, from Proto-Germanic *bautilo-z, from *bautan "to beat" (see beat (v.)).
Example
- 1. But during the renaissance the two beetle species were geographically isolated .
- 2. But americans were embracing a car called the beetle , weren 't they ?
- 3. Trees affected by the beetle cannot be used for supplying timber or paper .
- 4. An insect called the mountain pine beetle is literally killing millions of trees in canada .
- 5. Worse , warmer winters have allowed pests like the mountain pine beetle to thrive .