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Cockchafer

//ˈkɒkˌt͡ʃeɪfɚ// noun

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    Any of the large European beetles from the genus Melolontha that are destructive to vegetation.

    "To the person who shall discover to the Society an effectual method, verified by repeated and satisfactory trials, of destroying the Grub of the Cockchafer, so destructive to the roots of all sorts of Corn, Pease, Beans, and Turneps, the gold medal."

  2. 2
    any of various large European beetles destructive to vegetation as both larvae and adult wordnet
  3. 3
    Any of various other similar beetles, such as of the genera Acrossidius, Cyphochilus, Rhopaea, etc.

Etymology

From cock (“male bird”) + chafer (“beetle”). The Oxford English Dictionary speculates that the name may relate to a resemblance of antennae to coxcomb, or to the beetle’s size. Compare French hanneton (“cockchafer”), ultimately from Frankish *hanō (“rooster”). Attested from the late seventeenth century.

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