cochineal insect

American  

noun

1. any of various small red scale insects of the family Dactylopiidae, related to the mealybugs and characterized by an oval segmented body with white waxy plates and short legs and antennae: the source of cochineal.

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Etymology

Origin of cochineal insect

First recorded in 1795–1805

Example Sentences

Crimson and carmine, both of them ultimately from Old Spanish, are not quite doublets, but both belong to kermes, the cochineal insect, of Arabic origin.

From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Weekley, Ernest

In Mexico we have the cochineal insect, which is a scale bug that lives on a cactus that grows in Mexico.

From The Insect Folk by Morley, Margaret Warner

Scarlet could not be obtained, but was yielded by the cochineal insect.

From History of Phoenicia by Rawlinson, George

Opuntia cochinellifera.—A native of Mexico, where it is largely cultivated in what are called the Nopal plantations for the breeding of the cochineal insect.

From Catalogue of Economic Plants in the Collection of the U. S. Department of Agriculture by Saunders, William

The cochineal insect crawls upon the cactus leaf, and huge winged ants build their clay nests upon the branches of the acacia-tree.

From The Rifle Rangers by Reid, Mayne