frass

American

[fras] / fræs /

noun

insect excrement.

frass British

/ fræs /

noun

excrement or other refuse left by insects and insect larvae

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of frass

1850–55; originally, the refuse and excrement of boring or leaf-eating insects < German Frass insect damage, corrosion, noun from base of fressen to eat (of animals); see fress, fret ¹

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023