cochineal insect

American  

noun

1. any of various small red scale insects of the family Dactylopiidae, related to the mealybugs and characterized by an oval segmented body with white waxy plates and short legs and antennae: the source of cochineal.

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Etymology

Origin of cochineal insect

First recorded in 1795–1805

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

cochineal insect

The crimson portion owes its hue to being steeped in a bath with the little cochineal insect; and the blue to indigo.

From Tales of the Toys, Told by Themselves by Broderip, Frances Freeling

The cochineal insect crawls upon the cactus leaf, and huge winged ants build their clay nests upon the branches of the acacia-tree.

From The Rifle Rangers by Reid, Mayne

This is the cochineal insect, but only the wild variety; the fine kind, which is used for dye, and conies from the province of Oajaca, miles off, is covered only with a mealy powder.

From Anahuac : or, Mexico and the Mexicans, Ancient and Modern by Tylor, Edward Burnett

Crimson and carmine, both of them ultimately from Old Spanish, are not quite doublets, but both belong to kermes, the cochineal insect, of Arabic origin.

From The Romance of Words (4th ed.) by Weekley, Ernest

Scarlet could not be obtained, but was yielded by the cochineal insect.

From History of Phoenicia by Rawlinson, George