tent caterpillar
Americannoun
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any of the larvae of several moths of the genus Malacosoma, which feed on the leaves of orchard and shade trees and live colonially in a tentlike silken web.
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the North American larva of M. disstria forest tent caterpillar, which spins a dense net.
noun
Etymology
Origin of tent caterpillar
An Americanism dating back to 1850–55
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 online class from 12:30-2:15 p.m. will cover identification of blossom brown rot, bacterial canker, cherry mottle leaf, shothole, cherry bark tortrix and tent caterpillar.
From Seattle Times ● Jun. 4, 2021
A short distance to the southwest, the worst tent caterpillar infestation in 25 years has already chewed up 40,000 acres of maple and other hardwood forests in the state of Vermont.
From Time Magazine Archive
Field tests are being made in several countries: in France and Germany against larvae of the cabbage butterfly, in Yugoslavia against the fall webworm, in the Soviet Union against a tent caterpillar.
From "Silent Spring" by Rachel Carson
The tent caterpillar, which is easily seen, should be destroyed at once.
From Scientific American Supplement, No. 433, April 19, 1884 by Various
About ten years ago a few nests of the tent caterpillar were cut off and burned.
From Northern Nut Growers Association, Report of the Proceedings at the Fourth Annual Meeting Washington D.C. November 18 and 19, 1913 by Northern Nut Growers Association
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.
