devil's coach-horse

British  

noun

1. a large black rove beetle, Ocypus olens, with large jaws and ferocious habits

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Example Sentences

Once she endured agonies through a mad desire to sneeze, and once her lips opened to scream as something suspiciously like the antennæ of a huge beetle, and which she subsequently discovered was a "devil's coach-horse," tickled the calf of her leg.

From Project Gutenberg

As this atrocious tale of lies turned up joint by joint before her, like a "devil's coach-horse,"* mother was too much amazed to do any more than look at him, as if the earth must open.

From Project Gutenberg

Now, as a matter of fact, the devil's coach-horse is quite harmless, but I have often seen, not only little boys and girls, but also chickens, small birds, and shrew-mice, evidently alarmed at his minatory attitude.

From Project Gutenberg

The Archdeacon motioned to the clerk to remove the oak cover, and the old man, with the air of an officious waiter, lifted it with a flourish, disclosing, inside the cracked font, a white pudding-basin, inside which, again, reposed a species of beetle known as a "devil's coach-horse."

From Project Gutenberg

As this atrocious tale of lies turned up joint by joint before her, like a 'devil's coach-horse,'* mother was too much amazed to do any more than look at him, as if the earth must open.

From Project Gutenberg