Colorado beetle

British

noun

Also called: potato beetle. a black-and-yellow beetle, Leptinotarsa decemlineata, that is a serious pest of potatoes, feeding on the leaves: family Chrysomelidae

"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

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.

Of the numerous plagues of this kind the locust, phylloxera and Colorado beetle may be cited.

From Project Gutenberg

As she explained, Rachel took the Colorado beetle between her fat thumb and forefinger and soon crushed it.

From Project Gutenberg

No, it is not a Colorado beetle, Robinson.

From Project Gutenberg

They also tried it on the larvae of Colorado beetles, a notorious pest of potatoes.

From Economist

We will venture to say that the Colorado beetle, the apple-worm, moths, bumble-bees, caterpillars, ants and spiders, were never before made so picturesque, never so idealized.

From Project Gutenberg

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