cochineal insect

American  

noun

1. any of various small red scale insects of the family Dactylopiidae, related to the mealybugs and characterized by an oval segmented body with white waxy plates and short legs and antennae: the source of cochineal.

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Etymology

Origin of cochineal insect

First recorded in 1795–1805

Example Sentences

Most of our domesticated animals have given rise to numerous and distinct races, but those which cannot be easily subjected to selection must be excepted—such as cats, the cochineal insect, and the hive-bee.

From The Variation of Animals and Plants under Domestication — Volume 2 by Darwin, Charles

The cochineal insect of Mexico and Central America is solely nurtured by the native growth of cacti.

From Aztec Land by Ballou, Maturin Murray

‘Grain’ is from Lat. granum, a seed, applied to small objects, and hence to the coccus or cochineal insect which yields a variety of red dyes.

From Milton's Comus by Bell, William

Artificial naphthol-scarlet is abolishing the culture of the cochineal insect.

From An Introduction to Chemical Science by Williams, Rufus Phillips

The Mexicans wove many kinds of cotton cloth, sometimes using as a dye the rich crimson of the cochineal insect.

From The Story of Extinct Civilizations of the West by Anderson, Robert Edward