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

See Examples For:

cochineal insect

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 Robert Edward Anderson

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

From Aztec Land by Maturin Murray Ballou

Scarlet could not be obtained, but was yielded by the cochineal insect.

From History of Phoenicia by George Rawlinson

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 Charles Darwin

The cochineal insect, a species which has the habit of feeding upon the cactus, is used for a dye stuff, for which service the brightly colored body is appropriated.

From Domesticated Animals Their Relation to Man and to his Advancement in Civilization by Nathaniel Southgate Shaler