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burying beetle

noun
  1. any of various carrion beetles that bury the carcasses of small animals, especially rodents, in which their eggs have been deposited.
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Origin of burying beetle

First recorded in 1795–1805
Also called sexton beetle.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for burying beetle

Historical Examples of burying beetle

  • Butterflies, moths, and a burying-beetle especially desired.

    Harper's Young People, June 28, 1881

    Various

  • It was a tiny beetle no more than eight inches long—a burying-beetle.

    The Red Dust

    Murray Leinster

  • This is the Burying-beetle, the Necrophorus, so different from the cadaveric mob in dress and habits.

  • A general scavenger, the Burying-beetle refuses no sort of cadaveric putrescence.

  • It was a tiny beetle no more than eight inches long—a sexton or burying-beetle.

    The Forgotten Planet

    Murray Leinster

British Dictionary definitions for burying beetle

burying beetle

noun
  1. a beetle of the genus Necrophorous, which buries the dead bodies of small animals by excavating beneath them, using the corpses as food for themselves and their larvae: family SilphidaeAlso called: sexton
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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