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
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
Epactoides giganteus — This dung beetle was newly described in 2021, based on a specimen collected on either Réunion Island or Madagascar in the 19th century and unseen since.
From Salon ● Feb. 10, 2022
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
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
