cuckoo-spit
noun
a frothy secretion found on plants, exuded by the young of certain insects, as the froghoppers, and serving as a protective covering.
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cuckoo-spit
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cuckoo spit
cuckoo spitnouna white frothy mass on the stems and leaves of many plants, produced by froghopper larvae ( cuckoo spit insects ) which feed on the plant juices
cuckoo-spit
American
[koo-koo-spit, kook-oo-]
/ ˈku kuˌspɪt, ˈkʊk u- /
noun
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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.
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an insect that produces this secretion.
cuckoo spit
British
noun
Etymology
Origin of cuckoo-spit
1350–1400; Middle English cokkowespitle cuckoopint; so called from the spitlike secretion found on the plant and thought to be left by the bird
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.
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 W. Hamilton (William Hamilton) Gibson
Happily our periodical blight is expiring, like cuckoo-spit, in its own bubbles; and the time is returning when the bottle-blister will not be accepted as the good ripe peach.
From Springhaven : a Tale of the Great War by R. D. (Richard Doddridge) Blackmore
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 T. F. Thiselton (Thomas Firminger Thiselton) Dyer
Oh, I imagine it— Married to Robin, by a fat hedge-priest Under an altar of hawthorn, with a choir Of sparrows, and a spray of cuckoo-spit For holy water!
From Collected Poems Volume Two by Alfred Noyes
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 J. Arthur Thomson
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.
