burying beetle

noun

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

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. 2019

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.
The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles
Jean Henri Fabre
A general scavenger, the Burying-beetle refuses no sort of cadaveric putrescence.
The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles
Jean Henri Fabre
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

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

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