Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

burying beetle

See more synonyms for burying beetle on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. any of various carrion beetles that bury the carcasses of small animals, especially rodents, in which their eggs have been deposited.
Show More

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

  • 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
Show More
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