wood louse

noun Zoology.

any of certain small, terrestrial crustaceans of the genera Oniscus, Armadillidium, etc., having a flattened, elliptical body.

Origin of wood louse

First recorded in 1605–15

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Nobody that would not stoop to save a wood-louse in his path can claim to love.
Sylvia & Michael
Compton Mackenzie
"A man who lives like a wood-louse would be sure to look like that," he added.
Z. Marcas
Honore de Balzac
Why not an earwig, or a black-beetle, or a wood-louse, or a centipede?
Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 159, July 21, 1920
Various
Finally they came across the wood-louse, whom they found mentioned in the letter as "maid-servant."
Italian Popular Tales
Thomas Frederick Crane
There was once a wood-louse, who, being dissatisfied with his position, called himself a Pterygobranchiate.
The Hypocrite
Cyril Arthur Edward Ranger Gull