Dictionary.com
definitions
  • synonyms

meloid

[mel-oid]
noun
  1. a beetle of the family Meloidae, comprising the blister beetles.
Show More
adjective
  1. belonging or pertaining to the family Meloidae.
Show More

Origin of meloid

1875–80; < New Latin Meloidae name of the family, equivalent to Melo(ē) type genus + -idae -id2
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for meloid

Historical Examples

  • I really had before my eyes the pseudochrysalis of some Meloid.

    The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles

    Jean Henri Fabre

  • I was therefore firmly convinced that the parasite of the Mantis-hunters could only be a Meloid.

  • And behold, the law of the Meloid has to be struck off the statutes, a fate common to many others, as this chapter will prove.

  • This is indeed a Meloid, a true Meloid, one of the strangest anomalies among the parasites of its tribe.

  • The Meloid seems to be revolving in a circle: it undoes what it has just done, it draws back after advancing.

British Dictionary definitions for meloid

meloid

noun
  1. any long-legged beetle of the family Meloidae, which includes the blister beetles and oil beetles
Show More
adjective
  1. of, relating to, or belonging to the Meloidae
Show More

Word Origin

C19: from New Latin Meloē name of genus
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