cockchafer

American  

[kok-chey-fer] / ˈkɒkˌtʃeɪ fər /

noun

1. any of certain scarab beetles, especially the European species, Melolontha melolontha, which is very destructive to forest trees.

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cockchafer British  

/ ˈkɒkˌtʃeɪfə /

noun

1. Also called: May beetle.   May bug.  any of various Old World scarabaeid beetles, esp Melolontha melolontha of Europe, whose larvae feed on crops and grasses

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Etymology

Origin of cockchafer

1685–95; cock ¹ (with reference to its size) + chafer

Example Sentences

And none of it will stop the real culprit, which, it turns out, is the cockchafer and leatherjacket grubs, which bury their larvae under the grass.

From The Guardian • Apr. 23, 2013

Like a toy car with transparent wings whirring out of open doors, the cockchafer blundered into the first light it detected.

From The Guardian • Jun. 5, 2012

Like a blue cockchafer crawling onto a floating chip of wood, Naval Lieutenant Alfred J. William's Schneider Cup mono-seaplane Mercury floated on the Severn River off Annapolis last week, her nose in a barge.

From Time Magazine Archive

The humming of the screws overhead dropped an octave and a half, back through wasp and hornet to bumble bee, to cockchafer, to stag- beetle.

From "Brave New World" by Aldous Huxley

Oh, how frightened Thumbelina felt when the cockchafer flew with her to the tree!

From Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales First Series by Andersen, H. C. (Hans Christian)