Also called frog spit. a frothy secretion found on plants, exuded by the young of certain insects, as the froghoppers, and serving as a protective covering.
an insect that produces this secretion.
1350–1400; Middle English cokkowespitle cuckoopint; so called from the spitlike secretion found on the plant and thought to be left by the bird
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
I have frequently heard it called frog-spit, cuckoo-spit, toad-spit, and sheep-spit, and doubtless many other local terms of the same sort may be found.
From Eye Spy Afield with Nature Among Flowers and Animate Things by Gibson, W. Hamilton (William Hamilton)
After sojourning for a time in the cuckoo-spit, the frog-hopper becomes a winged insect.
From The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4) A Plain Story Simply Told by Thomson, J. Arthur
In the North of England this plant is known as cuckoo-spit, because almost every flower stem has deposited upon it a frothy patch not unlike human saliva, in which is enveloped a pale green insect.
From The Folk-lore of Plants by Dyer, T. F. Thiselton (Thomas Firminger Thiselton)
They call it cuckoo-spit, from its plentiful appearance about the arrival of that bird.
From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 20, No. 558, July 21, 1832 by Various
There is no commoner sight in the early summer than the cuckoo-spit on the grasses and herbage by the wayside.
From The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4) A Plain Story Simply Told by Thomson, J. Arthur
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
