Category:Beetle

Bee"tle, n. Etym: [OE. betel, AS. bitl, b, mallet, hammer, fr. beátan to beat. See Beat, v. t.]

1. A heavy mallet, used to drive wedges, beat pavements, etc.

2. A machine in which fabrics are subjected to a hammering process while passing over rollers, as in cotton mills; -- called also beetling machine. Knight.

Bee"tle, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Beetled; p. pr. & vb. n. Beetling.]

1. To beat with a heavy mallet.

2. To finish by subjecting to a hammering process in a beetle or beetling machine; as, to beetle cotton goods.

Bee"tle, n. Etym: [OE. bityl, bittle, AS. b, fr. b to bite. See Bite, v. t.]

Defn: Any insect of the order Coleoptera, having four wings, the outer pair being stiff cases for covering the others when they are folded up. See Coleoptera. Beetle mite (Zoöl.), one of many species of mites, of the family Oribatidæ, parasitic on beetles.

-- Black beetle, the common large black cockroach (Blatta orientalis).

Bee"tle, v. i. Etym: [See Beetlebrowed.]

Defn: To extend over and beyond the base or support; to overhang; to jut. To the dreadful summit of the cliff That beetles o'er his base into the sea. Shak. Each beetling rampart, and each tower sublime. Wordsworth.

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---excerpt from the Illustrated Bible Dictionary

Beetle - Heb. hargol, meaning "leaper"). Mention of it is made only in Leviticus 11:22, where it is obvious the word cannot mean properly the beetle. It denotes some winged creeper with at least four feet, "which has legs above its feet, to leap withal." The description plainly points to the locust (q.v.). This has been an article of food from the earliest times in the East to the present day. The word is rendered "cricket" in the Revised Version.