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chinch bug

American

noun

a small lygaeid bug, Blissus leucopterus, that feeds on corn, wheat, and other grains.

chinch bug British

noun

a black-and-white tropical American heteropterous insect, Blissus leucopterus, that is very destructive to grasses and cereals in the US: family Lygaeidae
a related and similar European insect, Ischnodemus sabuleti

"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 chinch bug

An Americanism dating back to 1775–85

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Relatively impervious to either drought, damp or chinch bug, amenable to almost any type of soil, the bean's chief enemies are rabbits, grasshoppers, blister beetles.

From Time Magazine Archive

A glass of water or a chinch bug or a copper coin is composed of molecules.

From Time Magazine Archive

“They don’t know what a chinch bug or a Hessian fly is up there.”

From "The Teacher’s Funeral" by Richard Peck

Write to the Division of Entomology, Washington, for bulletins on the chinch bug.

From Agriculture for Beginners Revised Edition by Burkett, Charles William

The grain growers are losing over one hundred million dollars a year on account of the work of the chinch bug.

From News Writing The Gathering , Handling and Writing of News Stories by Spencer, M. Lyle (Matthew Lyle)

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