burying beetle

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noun

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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Also called sexton beetle .

Origin of burying beetle

First recorded in 1795–1805

Words nearby burying beetle

Burushaski, burweed, bury, Buryat, Buryat Republic, burying beetle, burying ground, bury one's head in the sand, Bury St. Edmunds, bury the hatchet, bus

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use burying beetle in a sentence

Anyone who tries to draw attention to threats instead of quietly burying them is worsening the problem.
Cover-Ups and Concern Trolls: Actually, It's About Ethics in Suicide Journalism|Arthur Chu|January 3, 2015|DAILY BEAST
And now, Sierra Leoneans will face jail time if caught burying Ebola victims.
Jail Threats for Sierra Leone Ebola Victims’ Families|Abby Haglage|December 10, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Blister rust is like having the flu; the pine beetle is like fast acting leukemia.
What It Takes to Kill a Grizzly Bear|Doug Peacock|November 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST
In 2007, FWS reported that the beetle outbreak had affected only 16 percent of the whitebark pines.
What It Takes to Kill a Grizzly Bear|Doug Peacock|November 23, 2014|DAILY BEAST

The Beetle was launched with a series of television commercials unlike any before them.
Nationalism on Four Wheels|Clive Irving|October 18, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Her feet crush creeping things: there is a busy ant or blazoned beetle, with its back broken, writhing in the dust, unseen.
God and my Neighbour|Robert Blatchford
But strangest of all the dishes at the Tagal's feast was one prepared from a kind of beetle.
Alila, Our Little Philippine Cousin|Mary Hazelton Wade
Then, burying his face in the same shawl and shutting his eyes, he descended steadily but swiftly.
The Garret and the Garden|R.M. Ballantyne
He hoped to find a temporary refuge by burying himself among the lonely passes of the Alps.
Madame Roland, Makers of History|John S. C. Abbott
The advancing sand gradually crept into the hamlet, and in the course of a decade dispossessed the people by burying their houses.
Outlines of the Earth's History|Nathaniel Southgate Shaler

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