squash bug

American

noun

a dark-brown bug, Anasa tristis, that sucks the sap from the leaves of squash, pumpkin, and other plants of the gourd family.

squash bug British

noun

any of various heteropterous insects of the family Coreidae , esp a North American species, Anasa tristis , which is a pest of squash, pumpkin, and related plants

"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 squash bug

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50

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.

No squash bug races o'er its frame, Nor caterpillar weaving, It is never doped with Paris Green, Yet never found a grieving.

From Northern Nut Growers Association Report of the Proceedings at the Twenty-Fourth Annual Meeting Downington, Pennsylvania, September 11 and 12, 1933 by Northern Nut Growers Association

The squash bug may be told by its brown body, which is long and slender, and by the disagreeable odour from it when killed.

From The Library of Work and Play: Gardening and Farming. by Shaw, Ellen Eddy

The squash bug may be destroyed by hand.

From The Library of Work and Play: Gardening and Farming. by Shaw, Ellen Eddy

The squash bug lives thru the winter as the matured winged insect.

From An Elementary Study of Insects by Haseman, Leonard

The squash bug does its greatest damage to young plants.

From Agriculture for Beginners Revised Edition by Burkett, Charles William

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