Dictionary.com
Thesaurus.com

cockchafer

American  
[kok-chay-fer] / ˈkɒkˌtʃeɪ fər /

noun

  1. any of certain scarab beetles, especially the European species, Melolontha melolontha, which is very destructive to forest trees.


cockchafer British  
/ ˈkɒkˌtʃeɪfə /

noun

  1. Also called: May beetle, May bug. any of various Old World scarabaeid beetles, esp Melolontha melolontha of Europe, whose larvae feed on crops and grasses

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of cockchafer

1685–95; cock 1 (with reference to its size) + chafer


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

And none of it will stop the real culprit, which, it turns out, is the cockchafer and leatherjacket grubs, which bury their larvae under the grass.

From The Guardian ● Apr. 23, 2013

Like a toy car with transparent wings whirring out of open doors, the cockchafer blundered into the first light it detected.

From The Guardian ● Jun. 5, 2012

Like a blue cockchafer crawling onto a floating chip of wood, Naval Lieutenant Alfred J. William's Schneider Cup mono-seaplane Mercury floated on the Severn River off Annapolis last week, her nose in a barge.

From Time Magazine Archive

The humming of the screws overhead dropped an octave and a half, back through wasp and hornet to bumble bee, to cockchafer, to stag- beetle.

From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley

It is as if a spider would catch a cockchafer in its web.

From Timar's Two Worlds by Mór Jókai

Random Word

Spin the wheel and learn a new word!

Get a word

Vocabulary.com logo
by dictionary.com

Dictionary.com's Learning Companion

Go beyond just looking up words.
Remember them forever with VocabTrainer.

Start training