cuckoo-spittlen.
= (sense cuckoo-spit n.2 1).
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Hemiptera > suborder Homoptera > member of family Cercopidae (spit-insects) > frothy secretion
wood-sear1585
cuckoo-spit1592
cuckoo-spittle1646
toad-spittle1658
spring-frotha1722
toad-spit1751
froth-spit1753
frog spittle1811
frog-spit1823
cuckoo-froth1872
1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica v. iii. 237 It..is..delivered by many, that Cicades are bred out of Cuccow spittle or Woodseare. View more context for this quotation
1664 H. Power Exper. Philos. i. 28 That spumeous froth or dew which here in the North we call Cuckow-Spittle, and, in the South, Woodsear.
1884 S. Baring-Gould Mehalah (new ed.) xiii. 185 If on a May morning you rub your eyes with cuckoo spittle, you see the fairies.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1893; most recently modified version published online June 2019).
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n.1646