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tortoise beetle

American  
[tawr-tuhs beet-l] / ˈtɔr təs ˌbit l /

noun

  1. any of several turtle-shaped leaf beetles, as Chelymorpha cassidea argus tortoise beetle, or milkweed tortoise beetle, which resembles the ladybird beetle and feeds primarily on bindweed and milkweed.

tortoise beetle British  

noun

  1. a metallic-coloured leaf beetle of the genus Cassida, in which the elytra and terga cover the body like a shell

"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 tortoise beetle

First recorded in 1705–15

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.