dung beetle
Americannoun
noun
Etymology
Origin of dung beetle
First recorded in 1625–35
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.
And when describing her underachieving brother’s shortcomings, she says, “He’s got the brains of a dung beetle and the ambitions of a French bureaucrat.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 6, 2025
The dung beetle, which disperses seeds as it rolls its dung balls, fertilizing topsoil and enhancing biodiversity and engineering its environment, normally orients itself using the Milky Way and the moon.
From Salon ● Apr. 15, 2025
Kuang’s dark literary thriller “Yellowface” and “I Eat Poop,” Mark Pett’s “absolutely adorable and very funny kid’s book about a dung beetle, with a really wonderful anti-bullying message.”
From Seattle Times ● Feb. 23, 2024
In ancient Egyptian writing and art, the image of a scarab, or dung beetle, expressed a whole concept of the afterlife and rebirth and was used in inscriptions as the verb “to become.”
From New York Times ● Jan. 22, 2020
“She calls you Alyce, Will. Thinks you’re a girl or a fine lady down from the manor. You friends with the dung beetle, Lady Alyce?”
From "The Midwife's Apprentice" by Karen Cushman
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.
