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mealy bug

British

noun

any plant-eating homopterous insect of the genus Pseudococcus and related genera, coated with a powdery waxy secretion: some species are pests of citrus fruits and greenhouse plants: family Pseudococcidae

"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

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 expense of spraying put many farmers deep in debt, yet they remain vulnerable to outbreaks such as a mealy bug attack last year that destroyed 70% of the crop.

From Time Magazine Archive

Next stop will be Central America, original home of the pineapple, and presumably of the pineapple mealy bug.

From Time Magazine Archive

Like many other tropical plants, Clerodendron fallax is subject to attack by mealy bug, and this pest may be dealt with by hand picking or by washing the leaves with insecticide two evenings in succession.

From Project Gutenberg

Plants that are badly infested with mealy bug should be syringed with the paraffin mixture once a day, for about a week.

From Project Gutenberg

A blight, something similar to mealy bug, now and again appears on the roots of some of the varieties of Echinocactus and Cereus.

From Project Gutenberg

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