beetle

plural beetles · alternative obsolete bittle · alternative obsolete betel · alternative obsolete bittil

1. Any of numerous species of insect in the order Coleoptera characterized by a pair of hard, shell-like front wings which cover and protect a pair of rear wings when at rest.

   Synonyms: bug

2. uncountableA game of chance in which players attempt to complete a drawing of a beetle, different dice rolls allowing them to add the various body parts.

   Guessing competitions were tackled with much enthusiasm, followed by a beetle drive, and judging by the laughter, this was popular with all.

   1944, Queen's Nurses' Magazine, volumes 33-35, page 12

3. Alternative letter-case form of Beetle (“car”).

   For quotations using this term, see Citations:beetle.

present singular third person beetles · participle present beetling · participle past beetled · past beetled · alternative obsolete bittle · alternative obsolete betel · alternative obsolete bittil

1. To move (away) quickly, to scurry away.

   He beetled off on his vacation.

   4 more examples

   I beetled across to our table, but no Pauline, no Mr Cresswell, no Mr Rudyard.

   1982, A Woman of No Importance (TV programme)

   “[…] But he seems to have beetled off somewhere as usual. […]”

   1983, Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night, Mountaineers Books, →ISBN, page 144

   In the falling darkness Harry saw small collections of lights as they passed over more villages, then a winding road on which a single car was beetling its way home through the hills. …

   2003, J. K. Rowling, “The Department of Mysteries”, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, →ISBN, page 766

   Her eyes still closed, his aunt smiled cruelly. “I know what you are dying to say, Bertie. Go ahead—take the cheap shot. I’ll squash you like the nasty little bug you are.” ¶ Thus chastened, the little man beetled away.

   2005, James Doss, The Witch's Tongue, →ISBN, page 178

comparative more beetle · superlative most beetle

1. Protruding, jutting, overhanging.

   beetle brows

present singular third person beetles · participle present beetling · participle past beetled · past beetled

1. ambitransitiveTo loom over; to extend or jut (above).

   The heavy chimney beetled over the thatched roof.

   5 more examples

   To the dreadful summit of the cliff / That beetles o'er his base into the sea.

   c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iv]

   Each beetling rampart, and each tower sublime.

   1822, William Wordsworth, In a Carriage, upon the Banks of the Rhin

   I was indeed gently affected, and shared his fears, remembering well the bulging walls of the old house, and the toppling mass of heavy chimney work which beetled over the roof, beneath which these poor doves had made their nest.

   1858 January-March, Dean of Pimlico, “A Story for the New Year”, in Dublin University Magazine reprinted in Littell's Living Age, volume 56 (volume 20 of the second series), Littell, Son & Company, page 63

   He stood a barehead boy upon a cliff / Pine-crowned, that hung high beetling a bleak north sea, / His long bright hair did stream like yellow silk, […]

   1871, The Spectator, volume 44, page 519

   Impelled by some obscure quest, I ascended a rift or cleft in this beetling precipice, noting as I did so the black mouths of many fearsome burrows extending from both walls into the depths of the stony plateau.

   1941, Chapman Miske, The Thing in the Moonlight

plural beetles

1. A type of mallet with a large wooden head, 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; a beetling machine.

present singular third person beetles · participle present beetling · participle past beetled · past beetled

1. To beat with a heavy mallet.
2. To finish by subjecting to a hammering process in a beetle or beetling machine.

   to beetle cotton goods

plural beetles

1. obsoleteObsolete spelling of betel.

   Scatter black sand, and offer camphor, sandal, flowers, beetle-leaves, and all sorts of fragrance.

   1816, John Callaway, Yakkun Nattannawa: A Cingalese Poem, Descriptive of the Ceylon System of Demonology, page 10

   2 more examples

   Beetle-leaf is absolutely a primary necessary article of life; every person consumes it daily, especially when travelling; the hindoo of caste has great difficulties in the way of cooking food, which are augmented whenever from home, and the beetle alleviates his hunger.

   1835, Alexander's East India and Colonial Magazine: 1835,1/6, page 547

   "It consists of the beetle leaf, in which the piece of an areca-nut is mixed with some lime out of the oyster and muscle shells, and so put into the mouth and chewed. Out of the beetle leaves, during the preparation, the fibres that are hard and rough are first drawn to the leaf; the form of a little horn is then given, open at the bottom, and pointed at the top, which when the areca-nut is inserted is closed, and so chewed."

   1835, The Gentleman's Magazine, Volume 157, E. Cave, pages 614–615

plural Beetles · alternative uncommon beetle

1. AustraliaNew ZealandUKA small car, the Volkswagen Beetle (original version made 1938–2003, similar models made 1997–2010 and from 2011 to 2019).

   Synonyms: Bug