ladybird beetle
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of ladybird beetle
1730–40, lady (uninflected possessive case) Virgin Mary + bird; i.e. (our) Lady's 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.
The attractive red and black ladybird beetle, or ladybug, celebrated in the nursery rhyme, eats aphids and other small insects—to the gardener's delight.
From Time Magazine Archive
But even when warmed up the ladybird beetle is too temperamental to breed in captivity, so that every one shipped has to be captured.
From Time Magazine Archive
Scientific investigations have failed to show that the release of this ladybird beetle in any aphis-infested field ever resulted in an effective reduction of the aphis population in that field.
From Time Magazine Archive
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.
