locustn.

Brit.

/ˈləʊkəst/, U.S.

/ˈloʊkəst/

Forms: Middle English–1500s locuste, Middle English (1600s– regional, chiefly in sense 6) locus, Middle English– locust, 1800s– locusses (U.S. regional, plural).

Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French locuste; Latin locusta.

Etymology: < (i) Anglo-Norman and Middle French locuste (French locuste ) any of several large insects of the grasshopper family (first half of the 12th cent. in Anglo-Norman, 14th cent. in continental French), and its etymon (ii) classical Latin locusta (also lucusta ) any of several large insects of the grasshopper family, crustacean (probably a kind of lobster), of unknown origin. Compare Italian locusta (13th cent.). Compare locusta n. and earlier languste n.Specific senses. In bald locust in quot. 1611 at sense 1 translating Hebrew solʿām (in an isolated attestation in Leviticus 11:22), on account of the comment in the Talmud (Babylonian Talmud, Ḥullin 65b) that this word denoted a locust with a smooth head. With sense 3 compare Anglo-Norman locuste marine lobster (12th or 13th cent.). Sense 5a ultimately reflects a now generally rejected former interpretation of ancient Greek ἀκρίς locust (see acrid n.) in Matthew 3:4 (compare quot. a1200) as denoting any of various plants; suggestions have included the fruit of the carob tree (compare St John's bread n. at St John n. 4), although the semantic motivation would be unclear (a superficial resemblance of the pod's elongated shape to the insect has been suggested). Sense 5b is due to confusion of the cassia pod with the carob pod. From the third century a.d., many patristic and later writers have believed that John the Baptist's diet was vegetarian; this opinion appears to reflect the traditional prohibition of meat in many ascetic and monastic rules, and may in part also result from a perceived conflict of the usual sense of the Greek word with the Jewish dietary laws which forbid the consumption of most insects (however, locusts, crickets, and grasshoppers were specifically allowed; see Leviticus 11:20-23). For a detailed account of the various interpretations of the ‘locusts and wild honey’ which constituted the diet of John the Baptist, see J. A. Kelhoffer Diet of John the Baptist (2004). In sense 6 short for locust tree n. Further variant forms. With use in senses 6 and 4b compare also U.S. regional (New York) locar (1805), (Louisiana) loaker (20th cent.), probably showing inferred singulars resulting from misapprehension of locus as plural. Attestation of the Anglo-Norman word. The following entry in a glossary that contains both Middle English and Anglo-Norman glosses apparently shows a form of the Anglo-Norman word; compare Anglo-Norman lauste (first half of the 12th cent.; < classical Latin locusta):c1175 Libellus de Nominibus Naturalium Rerum in T. Hunt Teaching & Learning Lat. in 13th-cent. Eng. (1991) I. 23 Locusta, louste.

I. Any of various insects and crustaceans, and related uses.

1. Any of various large orthopteran insects of the grasshopper family ( Acrididae); esp. any such insect which periodically changes its behaviour to form large swarms which can travel long distances and devastate crops and other vegetation; spec. Locusta migratoria (also called migratory locust) and Schistocerca gregaria (more fully desert locust). Frequently with distinguishing word.In the Hebrew Scriptures there are nine different names for the insect or for particular species or varieties; in English Bible translations, they are sometimes translated as ‘locust’, sometimes as ‘beetle’, ‘grasshopper’, ‘caterpillar’, ‘palmerworm’, etc. The precise application of the several names is unknown.Locusts are used as food in many countries.red-legged locust, Rocky Mountain locust: see the first element.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Orthoptera > family Acrididae > oedipoda migratoria (locust)

locustc1350

locustaa1398

langosta1881

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Orthoptera > family Locustidae > member of (locust)

grasshopOE

langustec1200

skippera1325

locustc1350

honeysucklea1387

honeysucka1398

lungoutec1485

grasshopper1526

acrida1557

ophiomach1609

locustid1878

the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > flesh of other animals > [noun] > locust

langustec1200

locustaa1398

locust1526

a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 127 Weste was his [sc. St John the Baptist's] wunienge,..wilde hunie and languste his mete.]

c1350 Apocalypse St. John: A Version (Harl. 874) (1961) 69 (MED) And þe locustes semen as it weren horses þat weren diȝth to bataile.

a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Psalms lxxvii. 46 He ȝaf to rust the frutis of hem; and ther trauailis to a locust [1535 Coverdale the greshopper, 1611 King James the locust; L. lucustae].

a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 6041 (MED) Þan sent drightin a litel beist, O toth es noght vnfelunest, Locust it hatt.

a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) lxxvii. §51. 285 Locustis ere bestis that fleghis and etis kornes.

1526 Bible (Tyndale) Matt. iii. f. iij^v Hys meate was locustes, and wylde hony.

1611 Bible (King James) Lev. xi. 22 Euen these of them ye may eate: the Locust, after his kinde, and the Bald-locust after his kinde.

1638 Bp. J. Wilkins Discov. New World (1684) i. 184 Those great Multitudes of Locusts wherewith divers Countries have bin Destroyed.

1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost x. 1076 A darksom Cloud of Locusts swarming down.

1742 E. Young Complaint: Night the Third 18 Thick as the Locust on the land of Nile.

1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VII. 346 The inhabitants turn what seems a plague to their own advantage. Locusts are eaten.

1806 G. Shaw Gen. Zool. VI. 129 Among the most noxious species is the Gryllus migratorius of Linnaeus, or common migratory locust.

1869 C. Darwin Origin of Species (ed. 5) xi. 439 Locusts are sometimes blown to great distances from the land.

1880 B. Disraeli Endymion I. xxxi. 288 The white ant can destroy fleets and cities, and the locusts erase a province.

1903 R. Kipling in Collier's Weekly 7 Mar. 8/1 The locusts' mile-deep swarm.

1932 Times 7 Apr. 13/4 The locust is no regarder of persons or frontiers.

1973 Nature 24 Aug. 484/1 Phase transformation in locusts refers to the changes induced when solitary hoppers (juvenile locusts) become gregarious.

2004 Independent 8 June 23/1 Desert locusts, or Shistocerca gregaria, travel in swarms millions strong and devour any vegetation in their path.

2. A person viewed as behaving in a devouring or destructive way.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > [noun] > devouring (of fire, etc.) > that which devours (of fire, insects, etc.) > one who or that which consumes time, money, etc.

consumerc1425

gulf1538

locust1545

moth1577

depastor1583

whale1606

consumptive1739

the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > appetite > excessive consumption of food or drink > [noun] > gluttony > glutton

glutton?c1225

glutc1394

globberc1400

glofferc1440

gluttoner1482

gourmanda1492

ravener1496

belly1526

golofer1529

lurcher1530

cormorant1531

flesh-fly1532

full-belly1536

belly-godc1540

flap-sauce1540

gourmander1542

gully-gut1542

locust1545

glosser1549

greedy-guts1550

hungry gut1552

belly-slave1562

fill-belly1563

grand paunch1569

belly-paunch1570

belly-swainc1571

trencher-slave1571

slapsauce1573

gorche1577

helluo1583

gormandizer1589

eat-all1598

engorger1598

guts1598

guller1604

gourmandist1607

barathrum1609

eatnell1611

snapsauce1611

Phaeacian?1614

gutling1617

overeater1621

polyphage1623

tenterbelly1628

gut-head1629

stiffgut1630

gobble-guts1632

gulist1632

polyphagian1658

fill-paunch1659

gype1662

gulchin1671

stretch-gut1673

gastrolater1694

gundy-gut1699

guttler1732

gobbler1755

trencher-hero1792

gorger1817

polyphagist1819

battenera1849

stuff-guts1875

chowhound1917

gannet1929

Billy Bunter1939

guzzle-guts1959

garbage can1963

foodaholic1965

1545 J. Bale Mysterye Inyquyte P. Pantolabus f. 81^v Yet is it no maruele though this heretyque Pantolabus doth vtter soche pestilent poysons consyderinge that a worme of that nest and a locust of that lake, canne geue non other commodite.

1587 A. Fleming et al. Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) III. Contin. 1323/2 Certeine locusts of the popes seminaries..arriuing in England, and dispersing themselues into such places, [etc.].

1623 T. Adams Barren Tree 44 There but foure things exempted from the power of their Excommunication, as Nauarrus notes: a Locust, an Infidell, the Deuill, and the Pope: so he hath matched them, so let them goe together.

1681 J. Dryden Spanish Fryar iii. iii. 33 You promis'd to..bring your Regiment of Red Locusts upon me for Free-quarter.

1709 F. Gandouet French Politick Detected 82 One of these Locusts being sent for to a Sick Man, whom he had defam'd to the highest Degree, did ask him, in entering his Room, why he had sent for him.

1785 E. Burke Speech Nabob Arcot's Debts in Wks. (1815) IV. 285 All the territorial revenues have..been covered by those locusts, the English soucars.

1826 W. Cobbett Rural Rides in Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 4 Nov. 345 Those locusts, called middle-men..who live..out of the labour of the producer and the consumer.

1849 A. Alison Hist. Europe from French Revol. (new ed.) VIII. l. 127 An army of locusts, in the form of..customhouse-officers..and other functionaries, fell upon all the countries occupied by the French troops.

1921 J. Buchan Path of King iv. 74 Those locusts of the dawn whom men called Tartars.

2013 Ruidoso (New Mexico) News 4 Feb. This band of human locusts committed atrocities up and down the Hondo Valley.

†3. With distinguishing word or phrase. A lobster, crayfish, or other crustacean. Obsolete. rare.sea locust: see the first element. Cf. also locust lobster and locust shrimp at Compounds 2.

ΚΠ

1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. ix. xxx. 250 (heading) Of the many-foot fish called Ozæna, of the Nauplius, and Locusts of the sea, or Lobster [Fr. Laugoustes, read Langoustes].

1647 tr. Supreme Power Christian States Vindicated To Rdr. sig. d2 He can put no difference between sweet and bitter, being bred to eate Lobsters, or Sea Locusts, and accustomed to puddle water, or to Sea mudde.

1803 F. W. Blagdon tr. P. S. Pallas Trav. Southern Provinces Russ. Empire II. 465 Not to mention some peculiar wood-lice, both on land and in the sea, and a small blueish marine locust.

a. A mantis. Now only in praying locust (see praying adj. Compounds).

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Dictyoptera > suborder Mantodea > member of family Mantidae

locust1646

mantis1646

soothsayer1855

rearhorse1859

mantid1895

mantispid1926

1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica iv. i. 180 One kinde of Locust..stands..in a large erectnesse..by Zoographers called mantis .

1658 J. Rowland tr. T. Moffett Theater of Insects in Topsell's Hist. Four-footed Beasts (rev. ed.) 983 The Greek and African Locust appears with a shorter face, and the teeth are so weak that it can feed on nothing but the softest grass.

b. A cicada (family Cicadidae); spec. (U.S.) any of the cicadas of the genus Magicicada, which exhibit extreme periodicity of adult development and emergence.seventeen-year locust, thirteen-year locust: see the first element.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Hemiptera > suborder Homoptera > family Cicadidae

cicada?a1475

cigala1484

bow-krickel1658

locust1709

harvest-fly1753

spit-insect1755

tettix1775

balm-cricket1783

cicala1821

tree-hopper1836

cicad1855

knife-grinder1859

scissors-grinder1875

jar-fly1880

squeaker1887

New Forest cicada1978

1709 J. Lawson New Voy. Carolina 134 The Reptiles, or smaller Insects, are too numerous to relate here, this Country affording innumerable Quantities thereof; as..Beetles, Butterflies, Grashoppers, Locust, and several hundreds of uncouth Shapes.

1846 J. L. Stokes Discov. Austral. I. ix. 285 The trees swarmed with large locusts (the cicada), quite deafening us with their shrill buzzing noise.

1899 Daily News 26 July 8/2 The Cicadas, of which the 17-year Locust is one, are among the noisiest of insects.

1929 W. Martin N.Z. Nature Bk. I. 113 Cicadas or Singers.—Much the commonest name for the chirping insects one hears on sunny, summer days is that of Cricket or Locust.

1982 N. Keesing Lily on Dustbin 94 It is high summer. Cicadas, popularly called ‘locusts’, which they are not..drum insistently from garden trees.

2006 G. T. Youngblood I must remember This 45 Lang, Jr. took aim and threw the mower guard at the locust several times attempting to knock it off.

c. English regional (midlands and northern). The cockchafer, Melolontha melolontha. Now rare.

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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Coleoptera or beetles and weevils > [noun] > Polyphaga (omnivorous) > superfamily Lamellicornia Scarabaeoidea > family Scarabaeidae > genus Melolontha > member of (cockchafer)

chaferc1000

kafer1599

cockchafer1668

miller1668

May-bug1688

May-beetle1720

oak-web1720

humbuzz1756

May-chafer1766

dor-beetle1774

locust1790

fern-web1796

melolonthian1841

lamellicorn1842

furze-owl1847

rose beetle1856

melolonthid1928

billywitch1933

1790 W. Marshall Rural Econ. Midland Counties II. 301 The myriads of chafers (the brown beetles—here called ‘locusts’) are this year alarming.

1877 E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. Locust, a cockchafer.

1900 A. Munro Locust Plague ii. 264 In some of the English counties, the cockchafer even bears the name of locust.

1904 T. A. W. Rees Ianto Fisherman & other Sketches Country Life 27 ‘Some folks use the dor beetle and the locust (cockchafer)’, said Ianto, ‘but I've never had much sport with them’.

d. Any of various other orthopteran insects; esp. (Australian) a bush cricket (family Tettigoniidae) and (New Zealand) a weta (families Anosostomatidae and Rhaphidophoridae).

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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Orthoptera > member of

spectre1798

locust1826

orthopteran1842

straight-wing1842

weta1843

orthopteron1880

orthopter1882

taipo1928

1826 Australian 21 June 3/4 Thomas Coates, a Crown prisoner, who had been found strolling about the streets, at that dread, and spirit-stirring hour—the hour of midnight, when frogs croak hoarse and locusts sing.

1843 J. Backhouse Narr. Visit Austral. Colonies xx. 233 The Tettigoniæ, here called Locusts, of which there are several species, keep up a constant rattle.

1883 A. Domett Ranolf & Amohia (rev. ed.) I. ii. iii. 152 As the great wingless loathsome locust bare, That scoops from rotting trees his pithy fare.

1926 R. J. Tillyard Insects Austral. & N.Z. 96 The subfamily Rhaphidophoridae contains the Cave Locusts, also called Cave Wetas in New Zealand.

2007 W. van der Weijden et al. Biol. Globalisation ii. 10/2 Islands often harbour miniature or giant versions of species, such as..giant locusts (weta) in New Zealand.

II. Any of various trees, and related uses.

a. A fruit of the carob tree, Ceratonia siliqua; a carob pod. Now historical.

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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > edible pods, seeds, leaves, or flowers > [noun] > carob

carob1548

St John's bread1568

locust1597

carat1601

algarroba1671

locust bean1731

1597 J. Gerard Herball iii. 1241 This of some is called S. Iohns bread, and thought to be that which is translated Locusts, whereon S. Iohn did feed.

a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) i. iii. 348 The food that to him now, is as lushious as Locusts, shall be to him shortly as acerbe as the Colloquintida.

1818 W. Cowherd Facts Authentic 518/1 Travellers, passing near Jordan, have found a kind of fruit or pulse, eaten by the Monks there, which they call locusts.

2013 F. R. From That's enough, Freddy From! 211 It is related that Saint John the Baptist once survived on a diet of locusts (carob beans) and honey.

†b. A fruit of a cassia tree (genus Cassia); a cassia pod. Obsolete. rare.

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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular medicinal plants or parts > medicinal trees or shrubs > [noun] > non-British medicinal trees or shrubs > pudding-pipe tree > pod

locust1718

1718 J. Quincy Pharmacopœia Officinalis 181 Cassia, or Locust... This is a kind of Pod or Cane, which grows upon a large Tree in some parts of Brazil.

6. Any of various, mostly leguminous, trees and shrubs, esp. of the genera Robinia and Gleditsia; spec. Robinia pseudoacacia (also called black locust). Frequently with distinguishing word. Also: the wood of any of these trees, spec. that of Robinia pseudoacacia (frequently attributive; cf. locust wood n. at Compounds 2). Cf. locust tree n.honey locust, moss locust, sweet locust, thorn locust, West Indian locust, etc.: see the first element.

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the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > South American and West Indian trees or shrubs > [noun] > courbarbil

locustc1612

locust tree1630

bastard locust tree1670

courbaril1753

jatoba1933

the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > North American trees or shrubs > [noun] > locust-tree

locustc1612

acacia1640

locust tree1640

robinia1752

mock-acacia1754

rose acacia1762

pseudo-acacia1775

c1612 W. Strachey Hist. Trav. Virginia (1953) 130 A kynd of low tree..we take yt to be locust.

1640 J. Parkinson Theatrum Botanicum 1552 The second is called Locus by our Nation resident in Virginia.

1657 R. Ligon True Hist. Barbados 74 Another Locust there is, which they call the bastard-Locust.

1731 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. I. at Acacia The Seeds of this Tree are frequently brought over from Virginia and Carolina, by the name of Locust, which, I suppose, is a general Name for most Trees which produce Pods, in which are contained a sweetish Pulp surrounding the Seeds.

1775 W. Emerson in Harper's Mag. (1883) Oct. 740/1 Large parks of well-regulated locusts.

1825 W. Cobbett Woodlands § 328 If a ship had all its ribs, and beams, and knees of Locust, it would be worth two common ships.

1858 I. S. Homans & I. S. Homans Cycl. Commerce & Commerc. Navigation 1272/1 There are, at least, three popular varieties of the common locust... 1. Red Locust... 2. Green, or Yellow Locust... 3. White Locust.

1919 Trans. Illinois State Acad. Sci. 12 264 The tree species in order of abundance being bur oak, sugar maple, black walnut, elm, sycamore, locust (Gleditsia), black willow, [etc.].

1941 Torreya 41 202 Three species of locust were in full bloom and provided a splendid show—the clammy locust, black locust (Robinia pseudo-acacia), and bristly locust (R. hispida).

2006 New Yorker 4 Sept. 64/1 The campus sits at the end of a long alley of cottonwoods, locusts, and Chinese elms.

7. U.S. slang. A truncheon made of locust wood; = locust club n. at Compounds 2. Hence occasionally also: a policeman. Now rare.

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society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > club or stick > [noun] > constable's or watchman's

pestlea1500

baton?1590

locust club1850

locust1857

locust stick1859

nightclub1882

nightstick1887

billy1889

1857 N.-Y. Daily Times 10 Aug. 4/1 He [sc. a policeman in New York]..introduced them to his locust when they evinced any disposition to resist.

1863 D. M. Barnes Draft Riots N.Y. 82 Go in they did forthwith, and, where moral suasion had failed, the locusts succeeded.

1865 G. A. Sala My Diary in Amer. II. 211 The New York policeman wears a handsome uniform. At his side hangs a club or bludgeon... This club is made of ‘locust wood’..and by rowdies the policeman is often generically called..a ‘locust’.

1882 J. D. McCabe New York xxiii. 383 ‘Give them the locusts, men’, came in sharp ringing tones from the Captain.

1904 N.Y. Tribune 19 June 4 The policemen did not carry their ‘locusts’.

1938 R. L. Bellem Blue Murder xv. 145 The first guy I saw was a harness bull patrolling his beat and swinging his locust.

Compounds

C1. General attributive (and occasionally appositive).

a. In senses 1 and 2.

locust army n. [with quot. 1685, compare locust years n. at Compounds 2]

ΚΠ

1685 J. Jackson et al. Annot. Holy Bible II. (Joel ii. 20) sig. Bbb^v/1 Some other part of this locust Army shall be driven away into the Southern Deserts here described by a barren and desolate Land.

1744 J. Thomson Summer in Seasons (new ed.) 98 Fetid Fields With Locust-Armies putrefying heap'd.

a1788 W. Batty Messiah’s Conquests i, in Two Serm. (1792) 77 The hand out-stretcht soon brings a windy storm, And Egypt's coasts with locust armies swarm.

1871 Lippincott's Monthly Mag. Sept. 303/2 In a few days the locust army disappears from sight.

2001 Times 19 June 1/3 (heading) Locust army marches on its stomach.

locust fashion n. and adv.

ΚΠ

1838 Virginia Free Press 19 Apr. They have swept the State high and dry, after the locust fashion.

1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right II. xxiii. 201 That no hated aliens..should be suffered to..spread themselves locust-fashion over their beloved shallow ground.

1996 Independent (Nexis) 19 May (Business section) 7 This week around 170,000 gardening enthusiasts will descend locust-fashion on the horticultural beanfeast of the Chelsea Flower Show.

2013 W. Cranshaw & R. Redak Bugs Rule! ix. 161 (caption) The High Plains grasshopper..migrated in locust fashion, destroying millions of acres of cropland.

locust flesh n.

ΚΠ

1868 R. Browning Saul (new ed.) ix, in Poet. Wks. III. 152 The locust-flesh [1849 locust's flesh] steeped in the pitcher.

1915 Times of India 10 May 7/3 The natives here are extremely partial to locust flesh.

locust horde n.

ΚΠ

1822 A. de Vere Hunt Julian the Apostate 22 Some locust horde of Belgians, that thou saidst Had swam the Rhine at night.

1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer (1891) 257 The locust hordes of travelling sheep.

1974 Field & Stream Apr. 216/2 Saturday saw forty teenage boys police that farm with the enthusiasm and precision of a locust horde working through a seed crop.

2012 Daily Gaz. (Sterling, Illinois) (Nexis) 21 July 1936 and 1937 were really bad. There were locust hordes.

locust host n.

ΚΠ

1808 Morning Post 1 Aug. Where'er its footsteps bends your locust host?

1812 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Cantos I & II i. xv. 15 With treble vengeance will his hot shafts urge Gaul's locust host.

1903 Daily Chron. 2 Dec. 6/4 The locust-host of canvassers and pedlars..are trying even to the most forbearing temper.

1952 Times of India 8 Sept. 4/2 The task of destroying the locust hosts where and when they appear is now under way.

locust legion n.

ΚΠ

1811 Pilot 31 Aug. Where'er his locust legions veer, Ruin, and woe, and want, are there.

1855 J. S. C. Abbott Hist. Napoleon II. xviii. 334 The allied troops, in locust legions, were pouring into Leipsic.

1990 Science 10 Aug. 621/3 It was the dry weather and hurricanes, not the chemical assault, that thinned the locust legions.

locust swarm n.

ΚΠ

1680 R. D. Satyr against Satyrs 16 Poor Egypt's land had ten plagues; we have more, The Popes and Cardinals are the sad plague-sore, The Fryars the Locust swarm the land o're spreads.

1751 J. Fortescue Science 1 Then Egypt's priests as reptile, mean, and vile, As serpents gender'd on the banks of Nile, Like locust-swarms..O'er the green trees their baneful influence pour'd.

1796 R. Southey Joan of Arc v. 171 Who send their locust swarms O'er ravaged realms.

1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. I. xxiv. 321 A locust-swarm of foragers.

1910 Nature 13 Jan. 314/2 Several species of birds..pursue the locust swarms, and sometimes well-nigh exterminate them.

2006 J. T. Costa Other Insect Societies iv. 96 The locust swarms of Africa are legendary.

b. In senses 5 and 6.

locust fruit n.

ΚΠ

1703 W. Dampier Voy. New Holland ii. 70 Ingwa's, are a Fruit like the Locust-Fruit, 4 Inches long, and one broad.

1907 Elem. School Teacher 7 470 Licorice, powdered peaches, plums, apricots, or locust fruits veneer the tightly pressed leaves to improve the taste.

1987 P. Hadziyev tr. H.-D. Belitz & W. Grosch Food Chem. xxi. 691/2 Starting materials for manufacturing such products vary..figs, dates, locust fruit (St. John's bread) and similar sugar-rich fruits.

locust timber n.

ΚΠ

1806 Monthly Anthol. & Boston Rev. Sept. 489/2 The locust timber is here, by a whimsical mistake, said to be used for ship-tunnels, instead of trennels.

1858 I. S. Homans & I. S. Homans Cycl. Commerce & Commerc. Navigation 1271/2 The strength of locust timber, as compared with other woods.

1910 Electr. Rev. 17 Sept. 592/1 Locust timber..is not cut by organized gangs, but by the farmers who have a few scattered trees on their land.

2010 Oklahoman (Nexis) 10 Jan. (Life section) 1 d Outside is a fence made of locust timbers that was created to keep animals out, not in.

locust treenail n.

ΚΠ

1782 J. Harrison Let. 25 July in A. Hunter Evelyn's Silva (1786) II. ii. iii. 66 The Locust Trenails, that had been substituted instead of Iron Bolts, seemed..to have effectually answered the purpose intended.

1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 987/1 Considerable quantities of these ‘locust treenails’ are exported to this and other European countries.

1997 T. N. Layton Voy. ‘Frolic’ App. B. 185 Locust treenails were then driven in to hold the plank tightly.

C2.

locust bean n. the fruit or seed of any of various leguminous trees, esp. the carob, Ceratonia siliqua, or (more fully African locust bean, West African locust bean) the tropical African tree Parkia biglobosa.

ΘΚΠ

the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > fruit or a fruit > other fruits > [noun]

tamarind1539

zizypha1546

guava1555

tuna1555

turpentine1562

mango1582

mammee1587

durian1588

lychee1588

sapota1589

fritter1591

mangosteen1598

custard apple1648

longan1655

mammee sapota1657

mammee apple1683

breadfruit1697

coco-plum1699

rambutan1707

pawpaw1709

locust bean1731

sapodilla1750

cherimoya1758

wild lime1767

Otaheite apple1777

narra1779

langsat1783

rose apple1790

cinnamon apple1796

sapota plum1797

bhindi1809

salak1820

gingerbread plum1824

geebung1827

loquat1829

sapodilla plum1830

sage-apple1832

kangaroo-apple1834

karaka-fruit1834

quandong1836

mombin1837

terap1839

zapote1842

tamarind plum1846

prairie pea1848

Barbados-cherry1858

kei-apple1859

Natal plum1859

bullock's heart1866

guava-apple1866

Sierra Leone peach1866

Turkey fig1866

marula1877

scarlet banana1885

Suriname cherry1895

feijoa1898

pear apple1898

ume1918

pepino1922

Chinese gooseberry1925

num-num1926

acerola1954

the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > edible pods, seeds, leaves, or flowers > [noun] > carob

carob1548

St John's bread1568

locust1597

carat1601

algarroba1671

locust bean1731

1731 Catal. Rarities Don Saltero's Coffee-house 15 (table) Locust Beans.

1847 R. W. Church Let. 14 Feb. in Life & Lett. (1897) 82 The trees are very few [round Valetta]—scattered, black, shrubby carobas (or locust-bean) are the most numerous.

1908 Colonial Rep. Misc. No. 51: S. Nigeria 62 in Parl. Papers (Cd. 3999) LXX. 418 Parkia filicoidæ, the West African locust-bean tree.

1958 L. Durrell Balthazar ii. 32 He would pick a stick of sugar-cane off a stall as he passed..or a sweet locust-bean.

1969 W. R. Bascom Ifa Divination ii. 501 Iru or African locust beans..are regarded as ‘sweeter’.

1983 L. R. Beuchat in H.-J. Rehm & G. Reed Biotechnology V. 515/1 Dawadawa is a fermented locust bean (Parkia filicoidea) product prepared and consumed largely in West Africa.

2011 P. Figoni How Baking Wks. (ed. 3) xii. 329/2 Another food ingredient, carob powder, is from the pod that contains the locust beans.

locust beetle n. [originally after post-classical Latin scarabaeus locusta or its model Dutch sprinkhaantorre (both 1737 in the passage translated in quot. 1758)] (a) a locust or cicada, or other insect thought to resemble one of these (see senses 1 and 4) (now rare); (b) any of several beetles associated with locust trees; esp. (U.S.) an orange and black leaf beetle, Odontota dorsalis, the larvae of which are leafminers of the black locust, Robinia pseudoacacia.In quot. 1758, a click beetle (family Elateridae).

ΚΠ

1758 T. Flloyd & J. Hill tr. J. Swammerdam Bk. Nature 125/2 I preserve..our species of Beetles, which..can..jump into the air; wherefore we think that the name of Grasshopper or Locust Beetle [L. Scarabaei Locustae nomen, Du. de naam van Sprink-haan-Torren] is a proper one for them.

1835 Sci. Tracts 4 212 There is room to conjecture that the original form of the locust beetle is that of what is commonly, in this vicinity, called the muckworm.

1896 J. B. Smith Econ. Entomol. ii. vi. 222 Perhaps the most common species is the Odontota dorsalis, or locust-beetle, which occurs abundantly on the leaves in early summer.

1912 E. D. Sanderson & C. F. Jackson Elements Entomol. 157 (caption) The leaf-mining locust-beetle (Odontota dorsalis).

1924 D. H. Lawrence Let. 15 Nov. (2002) V. 167 It's the chief market today... Awful things to eat—including squashed fried locust-beetles.

2013 C. M. Marchese & K. Flottum Honey Connoisseur iii. 82/1 It [sc. goldenrod] becomes a monoculture.., attracting hordes of various consumers—honey bees for nectar and pollen, locust beetles for pollen, [etc.].

locust berry n. (also locus berry) originally Jamaican the fleshy edible fruit of the tropical American tree Byrsonima spicata (family Malpighiaceae); (more fully locust-berry tree) the tree itself (now rare); (in later use also) the related shrub B. lucida.

ΘΚΠ

the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > berry-bush or -tree > [noun] > tropical American or West Indian > locust-berry bush or fruit

locust berry1727

lotus-berry1799

locust tree1831

1727 Some Mod. Observ. Jamaica 13 in Whartoniana II Along the sandy Beaches, wild Grapes and wild Cherries, Locust Berries, Cocoa, and Coco-nuts.

1756 P. Browne Civil & Nat. Hist. Jamaica ii. ii. 215 It seems to have a near resemblance to the Locust-berry tree.

1920 W. Fawcett & A. B. Rendle Flora Jamaica IV. 222 Locus-berry tree (Browne).

2004 D. F. Austin Florida Ethnobot. 258 In the Everglades, where periodic fires maintain the pine flatwoods, the locust berry (Byrsonima lucida) is a small shrub.

locust borer n. a North American longhorn beetle, Megacyllene robiniae, the larvae of which bore into the wood of the black locust ( Robinia pseudoacacia), and the adults of which feed on goldenrod pollen.

ΚΠ

1826 Mass. Agric. Jrnl. 9 191 We have heard it [sc. the apple borer] confounded with the locust borer.

1916 Hardwood Rec. 25 Aug. 22/1 In a list of agents of destruction which reduce the profits of the tree owner, a chief place..should be set apart for the yellow-striped bug known as the locust borer.

2005 J. Maloof Teaching Trees (2007) 73 Once you have located the locust borers on a blooming goldenrod you are likely to notice that a number of them are mating.

locust bush n. (a) a young or shrubby black locust ( Robinia pseudoacacia); (b) a mesquite bush (genus Prosopis).

ΚΠ

1832 E. Ruffin Ess. Calcareous Manures vii. 82 (table) 100 grains of ashes from..Young locust bushes entire.

1834 A. Pike Sketches 56 The valley was full of small hills interspersed with mezquite bushes, that is, a kind of prickly green locust bush, which bears long narrow beans in bunches.

1905 St. Nicholas Mar. 450/1 There were a number of big trees in the grove, and a great many half-grown locust bushes.

2006 Mountain Bike May 47/1 We pick our way for hours down rock fields and through flesh-tearing locust bushes that have grown over the route.

locust club n. U.S. (now historical) a truncheon made of locust wood, formerly used esp. by the New York City police force; cf. sense 7 and locust stick n.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > club or stick > [noun] > constable's or watchman's

pestlea1500

baton?1590

locust club1850

locust1857

locust stick1859

nightclub1882

nightstick1887

billy1889

1850 Daily Morning News (Savannah, Georgia) 5 Sept. The [New York] police justice soon settled the matter, by summoning a large posse of the force, all armed with unpleasant looking locust clubs.

1887 Sat. Rev. 9 Apr. 529 Rioters..brained by the locust clubs of the New York police.

2003 M. S. Johnson Street Justice iii. 90 Conceivably, the elimination of the heavier locust clubs may have reduced the severity of clubbing injuries and saved civilian lives.

locust eater n. now rare any of various songbirds that feed on locusts (cf. locust bird n.); (in later use) esp. a magpie robin (genus Copsychus (formerly Gryllivora)).In quot. 1801, the wattled starling, Creatophora cinerea.

[In quot. 1790 translating Syrian Arabic samarmar (15th cent. or earlier), of uncertain origin. Compare earlier locust bird n. 1.

With later use, compare scientific Latin gryllivora, former specific name (1775), Gryllivora, former genus name (1831).]

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > family Muscicapidae (thrushes, etc.) > subfamily Turdinae > [noun] > unspecified and miscellaneous

bough thrush1669

rock thrush1781

locust eater1790

kick-up1847

solitaire1847

mountain thrush1848

scrub-robin1848

thrush-tit1889

akalat1902

1790 Hist. Mag. Feb. 282/2 At Mosul, and at Haleb, I have heard of the locust-eater; but I never saw it. This bird is called Samarmar, or Samaamog.

1801 J. Barrow Acct. Trav. Interior S. Afr. 1797–8 I. iv. 256 The farmers..immediately recognised the bird to be the locust-eater... This species of thrush..is only met with in places where the migrating locust frequents.

1837 W. Swainson On Nat. Hist. & Classif. Birds II. 66 The resemblance between Petroica bicolor and the genuine locust-eaters (Gryllivora) is..remarkably strong.

1941 Nigerian Field 10 119 In India the Dial Bird is called the locust eater.

† locust-eating thrush n. [after scientific Latin Turdus gryllivora, former species name (1775)] Obsolete a magpie robin (genus Copsychus (formerly Gryllivora)); cf. locust eater n.

ΚΠ

1801 J. Barrow Acct. Trav. Interior S. Afr. 1797–8 I. iv. 301 The branches of these were loaded with many thousands of the nests of the locust-eating thrush.

1816 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. (1818) II. xvi. 9 The locust-eating Thrush.

1887 Brit. Bee Jrnl. 13 Oct. 449/1 The locust-eating thrush is always to be found accompanying the locust.

locust flower n. a flower of the black locust, Robinia pseudoacacia, or other species of Robinia.

ΚΠ

1814 R. Alsop Universal Receipt Bk. 247 (heading) Elder or Locust flower Fritters.

1899 E. J. Chapman Lake Scenes in Drama Two Lives 96 Pink-lipp'd locust flowers, Hanging in thousands.

2005 J. Maloof Teaching Trees (2007) 67 I want to do nothing but feast my eyes on the colorful irises and breathe in the sweet smell of the locust flowers all day long.

locust-killer n. U.S. (now rare) (also locust-killer wasp) either of two large solitary wasps of North America, the cicada-killer, Sphecius speciosus, which preys on cicadas, and Prionyx thomae, which preys on grasshoppers.

ΚΠ

1865 Amer. Agriculturist Nov. 334/2 The wasp-like insect..which digs holes in the garden like big ant-hills, and stings badly, is the Hogardia speciosus, or locust-killer.

1905 Trans. Texas Acad. Sci. 7 75 (heading) Priononyx Thomae (Fabre), the Locust Killer.

1960 M. B. Stewart Southern Gardener ii. 25 I mention the locust-killer wasp, Sphecius speciosus because we do see it occasionally in the South.

locust lobster n. any of various lobster-like crustaceans of the decapod family Scyllaridae, characterized by antennae that are broadened into wide plates; also called slipper lobster.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Malacostraca > division Thoracostraca > order Decapoda > suborder Macrura > member of family Scyllaridae

locust lobster1778

crawfish1860

kreef1863

Moreton Bay bug1970

1778 Encycl. Brit. III. 1610/1 The locusta, or locust-lobster.

1854 A. Adams et al. Man. Nat. Hist. 291 Locust-Lobsters (Scyllaridæ).

1919 C. H. Townsend Guide N.Y. Aquarium 134 The Sea Roach or Locust Lobster (Scyllarides aequinoctialis) is an interesting crustacean often brought to the aquarium from Bermuda or Florida.

2007 J. J. Kappes Florida Spiny Lobster 39 The other edible..marine crustaceans such as the spiny lobster, Maine lobster, locust lobster, crabs, and shrimp.

locust post n. a post made of locust wood.

ΚΠ

1700 All Laws of Maryland 45 A good and substantial Locust Post, or other durable Wood to be six foot under ground at the least, and five foot above.

1825 W. Cobbett Woodlands § 334 My Locust posts came safely to London.

1999 BackHome Mar. 31/1 I attached a 2 × 4 across the top of the south wall locust posts.

locust shrimp n. a mantis shrimp (order Stomatopoda); esp. Squilla mantis (family Squillidae) of the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic.

ΘΚΠ

the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Malacostraca > division Thoracostraca > order Stomatopoda > member of family Squillidae

squilla1658

sea grasshopper1668

squill-fish1681

squill1710

sea mantis1835

squillian1842

mantis crab1850

locust shrimp1867

mantis shrimp1871

mantid1941

1867 G.J. Allman Syllabus Lect. Zool. & Geol. (new ed.) 9 Decapoda.—Ex. Lobsters (Homarus), Shrimps (Crangon), Locust-shrimps (Squilla), Crabs (Cancer, Carcinus).

1901 Twentieth Cent. Cycl. VIII. 85/2 The best known of the numerous species is the locust shrimp, mantis-crab, or mantis-shrimp (S. mantis) of the Mediterranean.

1996 Oceanologica Acta 19 127/2 (caption) Holes are attributed to the locust shrimp Squilla mantis.

† locust stick n. U.S. Obsolete = locust club n.

ΘΚΠ

society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > club or stick > [noun] > constable's or watchman's

pestlea1500

baton?1590

locust club1850

locust1857

locust stick1859

nightclub1882

nightstick1887

billy1889

1859 Charleston (S. Carolina) Tri-weekly Courier 29 Sept. He was not compelled to wear his locust stick.

1919 P. G. Wodehouse Their Mutual Child i. i. 16 The policeman..relieved his feelings by dispersing the crowd with well-directed prods of his locust stick.

locust wood n. the wood of a locust tree; esp. the hard wood of the black locust, Robinia pseudoacacia.

ΘΚΠ

society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > wood > wood of specific trees > [noun] > wood of other specific trees

thornc1330

poplara1450

asp1551

angelin1670

dogwood1670

serpent-wood1681

locust wood1742

canarium1776

stave-wood1778

lacewood1803

Canary wood1820

chestnut1823

brier-wood1868

jasmine-wood1870

angelique1873

sakura1911

1742 W. Ellis Timber-tree Improved (ed. 3) II. xxxii. 166 Where the Natives can't get Locust-wood, they use this to make their Bows.

1874 2nd Rep. Vermont State Board Agric. 1873–4 777 Clytus robiniae. The larvae feed upon locust wood.

1996 A. Theroux Secondary Colors 251 Locust wood, when freshly cut, is green and hard as a boulder.

locust years n. [with allusion to Joel 2:25; compare quots. c1384, 1611] years of poverty or hardship.

ΘΚΠ

the world > action or operation > adversity > [noun] > time of

stoundOE

SeptuagesimaOE

winterc1425

plague time1549

plague year1549

stour1579

Winter of the Rals1846

locust years1948

c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Joel ii. 25 Y shal ȝeelde to you the ȝeris whom the locust eete.

1611 Bible (King James) Joel ii. 25 And I will restore to you the yeeres that the locust hath eaten. ]

1948 W. S. Churchill Second World War I. i. v. 52 (heading) The Locust Years, 1931–1935.

1962 Listener 19 July 107/3 Sir Winston Churchill applied the phrase, the locust years, to the middle thirties, when vigorous rearmament should have begun.

1970 Times 27 May 8 Yet before these locust years of Labour, we had the Conservative years of rising prosperity.

2002 Daily Tel. 21 Nov. 40/6 Sir Peter Davis, Sainsbury's chief exec, can fairly distance himself from the seven locust years which preceded his return to the group.

Derivatives

ˈlocust-like adv. and adj.

ΘΚΠ

the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > [adverb]

ruinouslyc1450

perniciously1533

consuminglya1542

wastefully?1567

locust-like1596

fatallya1616

extinctively1633

destructively1661

shatteringly1818

destroyingly1820

corrosively1831

the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > processes or manners of eating > [adverb] > eating voraciously

greedilyc1000

frecklyc1275

ravenously?a1425

frechedlyc1450

raveningly1533

devouringly1552

locust-like1596

gulchingly1598

greedy1599

voraciously1752

1596 W. Warner Albions Eng. (rev. ed.) x. lv. 245 Her Guizards..into Scotland Locusts-like[sic] in her Pretext did swarme.

1662 G. Wither Paralellogrammaton 85 The Locusts, presignified that innumerable company of Locust-like unprofitable Cardinals, Abbots, Prelates, Monks, Fryars, Jesuites, and such-like devouring Animals.

1771 M. A. Meilan Northumberland i. ii. 21 Once more our church shall groan beneath the scourge Of superstitious priests, who, locust like,—Where'er they wheel their pestilential flight,—Spread universal ruin.

1796 B. Waller Poems Several Occasions 96 See! Locust-like they pour their hosts O'er Belgium's flat champaign.

1855 J. R. Leifchild Cornwall: Mines & Miners 25 Locust-like, they had devoured the edibles, and left us remains which were neither tender nor tempting.

1909 Outing Oct. 16/2 His ear [must be] quick to catch the locust-like warnings of deadly rattlesnakes.

2009 R. Kennedy Couch Tales vi. 75 It is a picturesque little place, unspoilt by locust-like tourists.

This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

单词	locust
释义	locustn. Brit. /ˈləʊkəst/, U.S. /ˈloʊkəst/ Forms: Middle English–1500s locuste, Middle English (1600s– regional, chiefly in sense 6) locus, Middle English– locust, 1800s– locusses (U.S. regional, plural). Origin: Of multiple origins. Partly a borrowing from French. Partly a borrowing from Latin. Etymons: French locuste; Latin locusta. Etymology: < (i) Anglo-Norman and Middle French locuste (French locuste ) any of several large insects of the grasshopper family (first half of the 12th cent. in Anglo-Norman, 14th cent. in continental French), and its etymon (ii) classical Latin locusta (also lucusta ) any of several large insects of the grasshopper family, crustacean (probably a kind of lobster), of unknown origin. Compare Italian locusta (13th cent.). Compare locusta n. and earlier languste n.Specific senses. In bald locust in quot. 1611 at sense 1 translating Hebrew solʿām (in an isolated attestation in Leviticus 11:22), on account of the comment in the Talmud (Babylonian Talmud, Ḥullin 65b) that this word denoted a locust with a smooth head. With sense 3 compare Anglo-Norman locuste marine lobster (12th or 13th cent.). Sense 5a ultimately reflects a now generally rejected former interpretation of ancient Greek ἀκρίς locust (see acrid n.) in Matthew 3:4 (compare quot. a1200) as denoting any of various plants; suggestions have included the fruit of the carob tree (compare St John's bread n. at St John n. 4), although the semantic motivation would be unclear (a superficial resemblance of the pod's elongated shape to the insect has been suggested). Sense 5b is due to confusion of the cassia pod with the carob pod. From the third century a.d., many patristic and later writers have believed that John the Baptist's diet was vegetarian; this opinion appears to reflect the traditional prohibition of meat in many ascetic and monastic rules, and may in part also result from a perceived conflict of the usual sense of the Greek word with the Jewish dietary laws which forbid the consumption of most insects (however, locusts, crickets, and grasshoppers were specifically allowed; see Leviticus 11:20-23). For a detailed account of the various interpretations of the ‘locusts and wild honey’ which constituted the diet of John the Baptist, see J. A. Kelhoffer Diet of John the Baptist (2004). In sense 6 short for locust tree n. Further variant forms. With use in senses 6 and 4b compare also U.S. regional (New York) locar (1805), (Louisiana) loaker (20th cent.), probably showing inferred singulars resulting from misapprehension of locus as plural. Attestation of the Anglo-Norman word. The following entry in a glossary that contains both Middle English and Anglo-Norman glosses apparently shows a form of the Anglo-Norman word; compare Anglo-Norman lauste (first half of the 12th cent.; < classical Latin locusta):c1175 Libellus de Nominibus Naturalium Rerum in T. Hunt Teaching & Learning Lat. in 13th-cent. Eng. (1991) I. 23 Locusta, louste. I. Any of various insects and crustaceans, and related uses. 1. Any of various large orthopteran insects of the grasshopper family ( Acrididae); esp. any such insect which periodically changes its behaviour to form large swarms which can travel long distances and devastate crops and other vegetation; spec. Locusta migratoria (also called migratory locust) and Schistocerca gregaria (more fully desert locust). Frequently with distinguishing word.In the Hebrew Scriptures there are nine different names for the insect or for particular species or varieties; in English Bible translations, they are sometimes translated as ‘locust’, sometimes as ‘beetle’, ‘grasshopper’, ‘caterpillar’, ‘palmerworm’, etc. The precise application of the several names is unknown.Locusts are used as food in many countries.red-legged locust, Rocky Mountain locust: see the first element. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Orthoptera > family Acrididae > oedipoda migratoria (locust) locustc1350 locustaa1398 langosta1881 the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Orthoptera > family Locustidae > member of (locust) grasshopOE langustec1200 skippera1325 locustc1350 honeysucklea1387 honeysucka1398 lungoutec1485 grasshopper1526 acrida1557 ophiomach1609 locustid1878 the world > food and drink > food > animals for food > flesh of other animals > [noun] > locust langustec1200 locustaa1398 locust1526 a1200 MS Trin. Cambr. in R. Morris Old Eng. Homilies (1873) 2nd Ser. 127 Weste was his [sc. St John the Baptist's] wunienge,..wilde hunie and languste his mete.] c1350 Apocalypse St. John: A Version (Harl. 874) (1961) 69 (MED) And þe locustes semen as it weren horses þat weren diȝth to bataile. a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(1)) (1850) Psalms lxxvii. 46 He ȝaf to rust the frutis of hem; and ther trauailis to a locust [1535 Coverdale the greshopper, 1611 King James the locust; L. lucustae]. a1400 (a1325) Cursor Mundi (Vesp.) l. 6041 (MED) Þan sent drightin a litel beist, O toth es noght vnfelunest, Locust it hatt. a1500 (c1340) R. Rolle Psalter (Univ. Oxf. 64) (1884) lxxvii. §51. 285 Locustis ere bestis that fleghis and etis kornes. 1526 Bible (Tyndale) Matt. iii. f. iij^v Hys meate was locustes, and wylde hony. 1611 Bible (King James) Lev. xi. 22 Euen these of them ye may eate: the Locust, after his kinde, and the Bald-locust after his kinde. View more context for this quotation 1638 Bp. J. Wilkins Discov. New World (1684) i. 184 Those great Multitudes of Locusts wherewith divers Countries have bin Destroyed. 1667 J. Milton Paradise Lost x. 1076 A darksom Cloud of Locusts swarming down. View more context for this quotation 1742 E. Young Complaint: Night the Third 18 Thick as the Locust on the land of Nile. 1774 O. Goldsmith Hist. Earth VII. 346 The inhabitants turn what seems a plague to their own advantage. Locusts are eaten. 1806 G. Shaw Gen. Zool. VI. 129 Among the most noxious species is the Gryllus migratorius of Linnaeus, or common migratory locust. 1869 C. Darwin Origin of Species (ed. 5) xi. 439 Locusts are sometimes blown to great distances from the land. 1880 B. Disraeli Endymion I. xxxi. 288 The white ant can destroy fleets and cities, and the locusts erase a province. 1903 R. Kipling in Collier's Weekly 7 Mar. 8/1 The locusts' mile-deep swarm. 1932 Times 7 Apr. 13/4 The locust is no regarder of persons or frontiers. 1973 Nature 24 Aug. 484/1 Phase transformation in locusts refers to the changes induced when solitary hoppers (juvenile locusts) become gregarious. 2004 Independent 8 June 23/1 Desert locusts, or Shistocerca gregaria, travel in swarms millions strong and devour any vegetation in their path. 2. A person viewed as behaving in a devouring or destructive way. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > [noun] > devouring (of fire, etc.) > that which devours (of fire, insects, etc.) > one who or that which consumes time, money, etc. consumerc1425 gulf1538 locust1545 moth1577 depastor1583 whale1606 consumptive1739 the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > appetite > excessive consumption of food or drink > [noun] > gluttony > glutton glutton?c1225 glutc1394 globberc1400 glofferc1440 gluttoner1482 gourmanda1492 ravener1496 belly1526 golofer1529 lurcher1530 cormorant1531 flesh-fly1532 full-belly1536 belly-godc1540 flap-sauce1540 gourmander1542 gully-gut1542 locust1545 glosser1549 greedy-guts1550 hungry gut1552 belly-slave1562 fill-belly1563 grand paunch1569 belly-paunch1570 belly-swainc1571 trencher-slave1571 slapsauce1573 gorche1577 helluo1583 gormandizer1589 eat-all1598 engorger1598 guts1598 guller1604 gourmandist1607 barathrum1609 eatnell1611 snapsauce1611 Phaeacian?1614 gutling1617 overeater1621 polyphage1623 tenterbelly1628 gut-head1629 stiffgut1630 gobble-guts1632 gulist1632 polyphagian1658 fill-paunch1659 gype1662 gulchin1671 stretch-gut1673 gastrolater1694 gundy-gut1699 guttler1732 gobbler1755 trencher-hero1792 gorger1817 polyphagist1819 battenera1849 stuff-guts1875 chowhound1917 gannet1929 Billy Bunter1939 guzzle-guts1959 garbage can1963 foodaholic1965 1545 J. Bale Mysterye Inyquyte P. Pantolabus f. 81^v Yet is it no maruele though this heretyque Pantolabus doth vtter soche pestilent poysons consyderinge that a worme of that nest and a locust of that lake, canne geue non other commodite. 1587 A. Fleming et al. Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) III. Contin. 1323/2 Certeine locusts of the popes seminaries..arriuing in England, and dispersing themselues into such places, [etc.]. 1623 T. Adams Barren Tree 44 There but foure things exempted from the power of their Excommunication, as Nauarrus notes: a Locust, an Infidell, the Deuill, and the Pope: so he hath matched them, so let them goe together. 1681 J. Dryden Spanish Fryar iii. iii. 33 You promis'd to..bring your Regiment of Red Locusts upon me for Free-quarter. 1709 F. Gandouet French Politick Detected 82 One of these Locusts being sent for to a Sick Man, whom he had defam'd to the highest Degree, did ask him, in entering his Room, why he had sent for him. 1785 E. Burke Speech Nabob Arcot's Debts in Wks. (1815) IV. 285 All the territorial revenues have..been covered by those locusts, the English soucars. 1826 W. Cobbett Rural Rides in Cobbett's Weekly Polit. Reg. 4 Nov. 345 Those locusts, called middle-men..who live..out of the labour of the producer and the consumer. 1849 A. Alison Hist. Europe from French Revol. (new ed.) VIII. l. 127 An army of locusts, in the form of..customhouse-officers..and other functionaries, fell upon all the countries occupied by the French troops. 1921 J. Buchan Path of King iv. 74 Those locusts of the dawn whom men called Tartars. 2013 Ruidoso (New Mexico) News 4 Feb. This band of human locusts committed atrocities up and down the Hondo Valley. †3. With distinguishing word or phrase. A lobster, crayfish, or other crustacean. Obsolete. rare.sea locust: see the first element. Cf. also locust lobster and locust shrimp at Compounds 2. ΚΠ 1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World I. ix. xxx. 250 (heading) Of the many-foot fish called Ozæna, of the Nauplius, and Locusts of the sea, or Lobster [Fr. Laugoustes, read Langoustes]. 1647 tr. Supreme Power Christian States Vindicated To Rdr. sig. d2 He can put no difference between sweet and bitter, being bred to eate Lobsters, or Sea Locusts, and accustomed to puddle water, or to Sea mudde. 1803 F. W. Blagdon tr. P. S. Pallas Trav. Southern Provinces Russ. Empire II. 465 Not to mention some peculiar wood-lice, both on land and in the sea, and a small blueish marine locust. 4. a. A mantis. Now only in praying locust (see praying adj. Compounds). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Dictyoptera > suborder Mantodea > member of family Mantidae locust1646 mantis1646 soothsayer1855 rearhorse1859 mantid1895 mantispid1926 1646 Sir T. Browne Pseudodoxia Epidemica iv. i. 180 One kinde of Locust..stands..in a large erectnesse..by Zoographers called mantis . View more context for this quotation 1658 J. Rowland tr. T. Moffett Theater of Insects in Topsell's Hist. Four-footed Beasts (rev. ed.) 983 The Greek and African Locust appears with a shorter face, and the teeth are so weak that it can feed on nothing but the softest grass. b. A cicada (family Cicadidae); spec. (U.S.) any of the cicadas of the genus Magicicada, which exhibit extreme periodicity of adult development and emergence.seventeen-year locust, thirteen-year locust: see the first element. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Hemiptera > suborder Homoptera > family Cicadidae cicada?a1475 cigala1484 bow-krickel1658 locust1709 harvest-fly1753 spit-insect1755 tettix1775 balm-cricket1783 cicala1821 tree-hopper1836 cicad1855 knife-grinder1859 scissors-grinder1875 jar-fly1880 squeaker1887 New Forest cicada1978 1709 J. Lawson New Voy. Carolina 134 The Reptiles, or smaller Insects, are too numerous to relate here, this Country affording innumerable Quantities thereof; as..Beetles, Butterflies, Grashoppers, Locust, and several hundreds of uncouth Shapes. 1846 J. L. Stokes Discov. Austral. I. ix. 285 The trees swarmed with large locusts (the cicada), quite deafening us with their shrill buzzing noise. 1899 Daily News 26 July 8/2 The Cicadas, of which the 17-year Locust is one, are among the noisiest of insects. 1929 W. Martin N.Z. Nature Bk. I. 113 Cicadas or Singers.—Much the commonest name for the chirping insects one hears on sunny, summer days is that of Cricket or Locust. 1982 N. Keesing Lily on Dustbin 94 It is high summer. Cicadas, popularly called ‘locusts’, which they are not..drum insistently from garden trees. 2006 G. T. Youngblood I must remember This 45 Lang, Jr. took aim and threw the mower guard at the locust several times attempting to knock it off. c. English regional (midlands and northern). The cockchafer, Melolontha melolontha. Now rare. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > order Coleoptera or beetles and weevils > [noun] > Polyphaga (omnivorous) > superfamily Lamellicornia Scarabaeoidea > family Scarabaeidae > genus Melolontha > member of (cockchafer) chaferc1000 kafer1599 cockchafer1668 miller1668 May-bug1688 May-beetle1720 oak-web1720 humbuzz1756 May-chafer1766 dor-beetle1774 locust1790 fern-web1796 melolonthian1841 lamellicorn1842 furze-owl1847 rose beetle1856 melolonthid1928 billywitch1933 1790 W. Marshall Rural Econ. Midland Counties II. 301 The myriads of chafers (the brown beetles—here called ‘locusts’) are this year alarming. 1877 E. Peacock Gloss. Words Manley & Corringham, Lincs. Locust, a cockchafer. 1900 A. Munro Locust Plague ii. 264 In some of the English counties, the cockchafer even bears the name of locust. 1904 T. A. W. Rees Ianto Fisherman & other Sketches Country Life 27 ‘Some folks use the dor beetle and the locust (cockchafer)’, said Ianto, ‘but I've never had much sport with them’. d. Any of various other orthopteran insects; esp. (Australian) a bush cricket (family Tettigoniidae) and (New Zealand) a weta (families Anosostomatidae and Rhaphidophoridae). ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > subclass Pterygota > [noun] > division Exopterygota or Hemimetabola > order Orthoptera > member of spectre1798 locust1826 orthopteran1842 straight-wing1842 weta1843 orthopteron1880 orthopter1882 taipo1928 1826 Australian 21 June 3/4 Thomas Coates, a Crown prisoner, who had been found strolling about the streets, at that dread, and spirit-stirring hour—the hour of midnight, when frogs croak hoarse and locusts sing. 1843 J. Backhouse Narr. Visit Austral. Colonies xx. 233 The Tettigoniæ, here called Locusts, of which there are several species, keep up a constant rattle. 1883 A. Domett Ranolf & Amohia (rev. ed.) I. ii. iii. 152 As the great wingless loathsome locust bare, That scoops from rotting trees his pithy fare. 1926 R. J. Tillyard Insects Austral. & N.Z. 96 The subfamily Rhaphidophoridae contains the Cave Locusts, also called Cave Wetas in New Zealand. 2007 W. van der Weijden et al. Biol. Globalisation ii. 10/2 Islands often harbour miniature or giant versions of species, such as..giant locusts (weta) in New Zealand. II. Any of various trees, and related uses. 5. a. A fruit of the carob tree, Ceratonia siliqua; a carob pod. Now historical. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > edible pods, seeds, leaves, or flowers > [noun] > carob carob1548 St John's bread1568 locust1597 carat1601 algarroba1671 locust bean1731 1597 J. Gerard Herball iii. 1241 This of some is called S. Iohns bread, and thought to be that which is translated Locusts, whereon S. Iohn did feed. a1616 W. Shakespeare Othello (1622) i. iii. 348 The food that to him now, is as lushious as Locusts, shall be to him shortly as acerbe as the Colloquintida. 1818 W. Cowherd Facts Authentic 518/1 Travellers, passing near Jordan, have found a kind of fruit or pulse, eaten by the Monks there, which they call locusts. 2013 F. R. From That's enough, Freddy From! 211 It is related that Saint John the Baptist once survived on a diet of locusts (carob beans) and honey. †b. A fruit of a cassia tree (genus Cassia); a cassia pod. Obsolete. rare. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular medicinal plants or parts > medicinal trees or shrubs > [noun] > non-British medicinal trees or shrubs > pudding-pipe tree > pod locust1718 1718 J. Quincy Pharmacopœia Officinalis 181 Cassia, or Locust... This is a kind of Pod or Cane, which grows upon a large Tree in some parts of Brazil. 6. Any of various, mostly leguminous, trees and shrubs, esp. of the genera Robinia and Gleditsia; spec. Robinia pseudoacacia (also called black locust). Frequently with distinguishing word. Also: the wood of any of these trees, spec. that of Robinia pseudoacacia (frequently attributive; cf. locust wood n. at Compounds 2). Cf. locust tree n.honey locust, moss locust, sweet locust, thorn locust, West Indian locust, etc.: see the first element. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > South American and West Indian trees or shrubs > [noun] > courbarbil locustc1612 locust tree1630 bastard locust tree1670 courbaril1753 jatoba1933 the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > non-British trees or shrubs > North American trees or shrubs > [noun] > locust-tree locustc1612 acacia1640 locust tree1640 robinia1752 mock-acacia1754 rose acacia1762 pseudo-acacia1775 c1612 W. Strachey Hist. Trav. Virginia (1953) 130 A kynd of low tree..we take yt to be locust. 1640 J. Parkinson Theatrum Botanicum 1552 The second is called Locus by our Nation resident in Virginia. 1657 R. Ligon True Hist. Barbados 74 Another Locust there is, which they call the bastard-Locust. 1731 P. Miller Gardeners Dict. I. at Acacia The Seeds of this Tree are frequently brought over from Virginia and Carolina, by the name of Locust, which, I suppose, is a general Name for most Trees which produce Pods, in which are contained a sweetish Pulp surrounding the Seeds. 1775 W. Emerson in Harper's Mag. (1883) Oct. 740/1 Large parks of well-regulated locusts. 1825 W. Cobbett Woodlands § 328 If a ship had all its ribs, and beams, and knees of Locust, it would be worth two common ships. 1858 I. S. Homans & I. S. Homans Cycl. Commerce & Commerc. Navigation 1272/1 There are, at least, three popular varieties of the common locust... 1. Red Locust... 2. Green, or Yellow Locust... 3. White Locust. 1919 Trans. Illinois State Acad. Sci. 12 264 The tree species in order of abundance being bur oak, sugar maple, black walnut, elm, sycamore, locust (Gleditsia), black willow, [etc.]. 1941 Torreya 41 202 Three species of locust were in full bloom and provided a splendid show—the clammy locust, black locust (Robinia pseudo-acacia), and bristly locust (R. hispida). 2006 New Yorker 4 Sept. 64/1 The campus sits at the end of a long alley of cottonwoods, locusts, and Chinese elms. 7. U.S. slang. A truncheon made of locust wood; = locust club n. at Compounds 2. Hence occasionally also: a policeman. Now rare. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > club or stick > [noun] > constable's or watchman's pestlea1500 baton?1590 locust club1850 locust1857 locust stick1859 nightclub1882 nightstick1887 billy1889 1857 N.-Y. Daily Times 10 Aug. 4/1 He [sc. a policeman in New York]..introduced them to his locust when they evinced any disposition to resist. 1863 D. M. Barnes Draft Riots N.Y. 82 Go in they did forthwith, and, where moral suasion had failed, the locusts succeeded. 1865 G. A. Sala My Diary in Amer. II. 211 The New York policeman wears a handsome uniform. At his side hangs a club or bludgeon... This club is made of ‘locust wood’..and by rowdies the policeman is often generically called..a ‘locust’. 1882 J. D. McCabe New York xxiii. 383 ‘Give them the locusts, men’, came in sharp ringing tones from the Captain. 1904 N.Y. Tribune 19 June 4 The policemen did not carry their ‘locusts’. 1938 R. L. Bellem Blue Murder xv. 145 The first guy I saw was a harness bull patrolling his beat and swinging his locust. Compounds C1. General attributive (and occasionally appositive). a. In senses 1 and 2. locust army n. [with quot. 1685, compare locust years n. at Compounds 2] ΚΠ 1685 J. Jackson et al. Annot. Holy Bible II. (Joel ii. 20) sig. Bbb^v/1 Some other part of this locust Army shall be driven away into the Southern Deserts here described by a barren and desolate Land. 1744 J. Thomson Summer in Seasons (new ed.) 98 Fetid Fields With Locust-Armies putrefying heap'd. a1788 W. Batty Messiah’s Conquests i, in Two Serm. (1792) 77 The hand out-stretcht soon brings a windy storm, And Egypt's coasts with locust armies swarm. 1871 Lippincott's Monthly Mag. Sept. 303/2 In a few days the locust army disappears from sight. 2001 Times 19 June 1/3 (heading) Locust army marches on its stomach. locust fashion n. and adv. ΚΠ 1838 Virginia Free Press 19 Apr. They have swept the State high and dry, after the locust fashion. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Miner's Right II. xxiii. 201 That no hated aliens..should be suffered to..spread themselves locust-fashion over their beloved shallow ground. 1996 Independent (Nexis) 19 May (Business section) 7 This week around 170,000 gardening enthusiasts will descend locust-fashion on the horticultural beanfeast of the Chelsea Flower Show. 2013 W. Cranshaw & R. Redak Bugs Rule! ix. 161 (caption) The High Plains grasshopper..migrated in locust fashion, destroying millions of acres of cropland. locust flesh n. ΚΠ 1868 R. Browning Saul (new ed.) ix, in Poet. Wks. III. 152 The locust-flesh [1849 locust's flesh] steeped in the pitcher. 1915 Times of India 10 May 7/3 The natives here are extremely partial to locust flesh. locust horde n. ΚΠ 1822 A. de Vere Hunt Julian the Apostate 22 Some locust horde of Belgians, that thou saidst Had swam the Rhine at night. 1890 ‘R. Boldrewood’ Colonial Reformer (1891) 257 The locust hordes of travelling sheep. 1974 Field & Stream Apr. 216/2 Saturday saw forty teenage boys police that farm with the enthusiasm and precision of a locust horde working through a seed crop. 2012 Daily Gaz. (Sterling, Illinois) (Nexis) 21 July 1936 and 1937 were really bad. There were locust hordes. locust host n. ΚΠ 1808 Morning Post 1 Aug. Where'er its footsteps bends your locust host? 1812 Ld. Byron Childe Harold: Cantos I & II i. xv. 15 With treble vengeance will his hot shafts urge Gaul's locust host. 1903 Daily Chron. 2 Dec. 6/4 The locust-host of canvassers and pedlars..are trying even to the most forbearing temper. 1952 Times of India 8 Sept. 4/2 The task of destroying the locust hosts where and when they appear is now under way. locust legion n. ΚΠ 1811 Pilot 31 Aug. Where'er his locust legions veer, Ruin, and woe, and want, are there. 1855 J. S. C. Abbott Hist. Napoleon II. xviii. 334 The allied troops, in locust legions, were pouring into Leipsic. 1990 Science 10 Aug. 621/3 It was the dry weather and hurricanes, not the chemical assault, that thinned the locust legions. locust swarm n. ΚΠ 1680 R. D. Satyr against Satyrs 16 Poor Egypt's land had ten plagues; we have more, The Popes and Cardinals are the sad plague-sore, The Fryars the Locust swarm the land o're spreads. 1751 J. Fortescue Science 1 Then Egypt's priests as reptile, mean, and vile, As serpents gender'd on the banks of Nile, Like locust-swarms..O'er the green trees their baneful influence pour'd. 1796 R. Southey Joan of Arc v. 171 Who send their locust swarms O'er ravaged realms. 1856 E. K. Kane Arctic Explor. I. xxiv. 321 A locust-swarm of foragers. 1910 Nature 13 Jan. 314/2 Several species of birds..pursue the locust swarms, and sometimes well-nigh exterminate them. 2006 J. T. Costa Other Insect Societies iv. 96 The locust swarms of Africa are legendary. b. In senses 5 and 6. locust fruit n. ΚΠ 1703 W. Dampier Voy. New Holland ii. 70 Ingwa's, are a Fruit like the Locust-Fruit, 4 Inches long, and one broad. 1907 Elem. School Teacher 7 470 Licorice, powdered peaches, plums, apricots, or locust fruits veneer the tightly pressed leaves to improve the taste. 1987 P. Hadziyev tr. H.-D. Belitz & W. Grosch Food Chem. xxi. 691/2 Starting materials for manufacturing such products vary..figs, dates, locust fruit (St. John's bread) and similar sugar-rich fruits. locust timber n. ΚΠ 1806 Monthly Anthol. & Boston Rev. Sept. 489/2 The locust timber is here, by a whimsical mistake, said to be used for ship-tunnels, instead of trennels. 1858 I. S. Homans & I. S. Homans Cycl. Commerce & Commerc. Navigation 1271/2 The strength of locust timber, as compared with other woods. 1910 Electr. Rev. 17 Sept. 592/1 Locust timber..is not cut by organized gangs, but by the farmers who have a few scattered trees on their land. 2010 Oklahoman (Nexis) 10 Jan. (Life section) 1 d Outside is a fence made of locust timbers that was created to keep animals out, not in. locust treenail n. ΚΠ 1782 J. Harrison Let. 25 July in A. Hunter Evelyn's Silva (1786) II. ii. iii. 66 The Locust Trenails, that had been substituted instead of Iron Bolts, seemed..to have effectually answered the purpose intended. 1866 J. Lindley & T. Moore Treasury Bot. II. 987/1 Considerable quantities of these ‘locust treenails’ are exported to this and other European countries. 1997 T. N. Layton Voy. ‘Frolic’ App. B. 185 Locust treenails were then driven in to hold the plank tightly. C2. locust bean n. the fruit or seed of any of various leguminous trees, esp. the carob, Ceratonia siliqua, or (more fully African locust bean, West African locust bean) the tropical African tree Parkia biglobosa. ΘΚΠ the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > fruit or a fruit > other fruits > [noun] tamarind1539 zizypha1546 guava1555 tuna1555 turpentine1562 mango1582 mammee1587 durian1588 lychee1588 sapota1589 fritter1591 mangosteen1598 custard apple1648 longan1655 mammee sapota1657 mammee apple1683 breadfruit1697 coco-plum1699 rambutan1707 pawpaw1709 locust bean1731 sapodilla1750 cherimoya1758 wild lime1767 Otaheite apple1777 narra1779 langsat1783 rose apple1790 cinnamon apple1796 sapota plum1797 bhindi1809 salak1820 gingerbread plum1824 geebung1827 loquat1829 sapodilla plum1830 sage-apple1832 kangaroo-apple1834 karaka-fruit1834 quandong1836 mombin1837 terap1839 zapote1842 tamarind plum1846 prairie pea1848 Barbados-cherry1858 kei-apple1859 Natal plum1859 bullock's heart1866 guava-apple1866 Sierra Leone peach1866 Turkey fig1866 marula1877 scarlet banana1885 Suriname cherry1895 feijoa1898 pear apple1898 ume1918 pepino1922 Chinese gooseberry1925 num-num1926 acerola1954 the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > edible pods, seeds, leaves, or flowers > [noun] > carob carob1548 St John's bread1568 locust1597 carat1601 algarroba1671 locust bean1731 1731 Catal. Rarities Don Saltero's Coffee-house 15 (table) Locust Beans. 1847 R. W. Church Let. 14 Feb. in Life & Lett. (1897) 82 The trees are very few [round Valetta]—scattered, black, shrubby carobas (or locust-bean) are the most numerous. 1908 Colonial Rep. Misc. No. 51: S. Nigeria 62 in Parl. Papers (Cd. 3999) LXX. 418 Parkia filicoidæ, the West African locust-bean tree. 1958 L. Durrell Balthazar ii. 32 He would pick a stick of sugar-cane off a stall as he passed..or a sweet locust-bean. 1969 W. R. Bascom Ifa Divination ii. 501 Iru or African locust beans..are regarded as ‘sweeter’. 1983 L. R. Beuchat in H.-J. Rehm & G. Reed Biotechnology V. 515/1 Dawadawa is a fermented locust bean (Parkia filicoidea) product prepared and consumed largely in West Africa. 2011 P. Figoni How Baking Wks. (ed. 3) xii. 329/2 Another food ingredient, carob powder, is from the pod that contains the locust beans. locust beetle n. [originally after post-classical Latin scarabaeus locusta or its model Dutch sprinkhaantorre (both 1737 in the passage translated in quot. 1758)] (a) a locust or cicada, or other insect thought to resemble one of these (see senses 1 and 4) (now rare); (b) any of several beetles associated with locust trees; esp. (U.S.) an orange and black leaf beetle, Odontota dorsalis, the larvae of which are leafminers of the black locust, Robinia pseudoacacia.In quot. 1758, a click beetle (family Elateridae). ΚΠ 1758 T. Flloyd & J. Hill tr. J. Swammerdam Bk. Nature 125/2 I preserve..our species of Beetles, which..can..jump into the air; wherefore we think that the name of Grasshopper or Locust Beetle [L. Scarabaei Locustae nomen, Du. de naam van Sprink-haan-Torren] is a proper one for them. 1835 Sci. Tracts 4 212 There is room to conjecture that the original form of the locust beetle is that of what is commonly, in this vicinity, called the muckworm. 1896 J. B. Smith Econ. Entomol. ii. vi. 222 Perhaps the most common species is the Odontota dorsalis, or locust-beetle, which occurs abundantly on the leaves in early summer. 1912 E. D. Sanderson & C. F. Jackson Elements Entomol. 157 (caption) The leaf-mining locust-beetle (Odontota dorsalis). 1924 D. H. Lawrence Let. 15 Nov. (2002) V. 167 It's the chief market today... Awful things to eat—including squashed fried locust-beetles. 2013 C. M. Marchese & K. Flottum Honey Connoisseur iii. 82/1 It [sc. goldenrod] becomes a monoculture.., attracting hordes of various consumers—honey bees for nectar and pollen, locust beetles for pollen, [etc.]. locust berry n. (also locus berry) originally Jamaican the fleshy edible fruit of the tropical American tree Byrsonima spicata (family Malpighiaceae); (more fully locust-berry tree) the tree itself (now rare); (in later use also) the related shrub B. lucida. ΘΚΠ the world > plants > particular plants > trees and shrubs > berry-bush or -tree > [noun] > tropical American or West Indian > locust-berry bush or fruit locust berry1727 lotus-berry1799 locust tree1831 1727 Some Mod. Observ. Jamaica 13 in Whartoniana II Along the sandy Beaches, wild Grapes and wild Cherries, Locust Berries, Cocoa, and Coco-nuts. 1756 P. Browne Civil & Nat. Hist. Jamaica ii. ii. 215 It seems to have a near resemblance to the Locust-berry tree. 1920 W. Fawcett & A. B. Rendle Flora Jamaica IV. 222 Locus-berry tree (Browne). 2004 D. F. Austin Florida Ethnobot. 258 In the Everglades, where periodic fires maintain the pine flatwoods, the locust berry (Byrsonima lucida) is a small shrub. locust borer n. a North American longhorn beetle, Megacyllene robiniae, the larvae of which bore into the wood of the black locust ( Robinia pseudoacacia), and the adults of which feed on goldenrod pollen. ΚΠ 1826 Mass. Agric. Jrnl. 9 191 We have heard it [sc. the apple borer] confounded with the locust borer. 1916 Hardwood Rec. 25 Aug. 22/1 In a list of agents of destruction which reduce the profits of the tree owner, a chief place..should be set apart for the yellow-striped bug known as the locust borer. 2005 J. Maloof Teaching Trees (2007) 73 Once you have located the locust borers on a blooming goldenrod you are likely to notice that a number of them are mating. locust bush n. (a) a young or shrubby black locust ( Robinia pseudoacacia); (b) a mesquite bush (genus Prosopis). ΚΠ 1832 E. Ruffin Ess. Calcareous Manures vii. 82 (table) 100 grains of ashes from..Young locust bushes entire. 1834 A. Pike Sketches 56 The valley was full of small hills interspersed with mezquite bushes, that is, a kind of prickly green locust bush, which bears long narrow beans in bunches. 1905 St. Nicholas Mar. 450/1 There were a number of big trees in the grove, and a great many half-grown locust bushes. 2006 Mountain Bike May 47/1 We pick our way for hours down rock fields and through flesh-tearing locust bushes that have grown over the route. locust club n. U.S. (now historical) a truncheon made of locust wood, formerly used esp. by the New York City police force; cf. sense 7 and locust stick n. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > club or stick > [noun] > constable's or watchman's pestlea1500 baton?1590 locust club1850 locust1857 locust stick1859 nightclub1882 nightstick1887 billy1889 1850 Daily Morning News (Savannah, Georgia) 5 Sept. The [New York] police justice soon settled the matter, by summoning a large posse of the force, all armed with unpleasant looking locust clubs. 1887 Sat. Rev. 9 Apr. 529 Rioters..brained by the locust clubs of the New York police. 2003 M. S. Johnson Street Justice iii. 90 Conceivably, the elimination of the heavier locust clubs may have reduced the severity of clubbing injuries and saved civilian lives. locust eater n. now rare any of various songbirds that feed on locusts (cf. locust bird n.); (in later use) esp. a magpie robin (genus Copsychus (formerly Gryllivora)).In quot. 1801, the wattled starling, Creatophora cinerea. [In quot. 1790 translating Syrian Arabic samarmar (15th cent. or earlier), of uncertain origin. Compare earlier locust bird n. 1. With later use, compare scientific Latin gryllivora, former specific name (1775), Gryllivora, former genus name (1831).] ΘΚΠ the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > family Muscicapidae (thrushes, etc.) > subfamily Turdinae > [noun] > unspecified and miscellaneous bough thrush1669 rock thrush1781 locust eater1790 kick-up1847 solitaire1847 mountain thrush1848 scrub-robin1848 thrush-tit1889 akalat1902 1790 Hist. Mag. Feb. 282/2 At Mosul, and at Haleb, I have heard of the locust-eater; but I never saw it. This bird is called Samarmar, or Samaamog. 1801 J. Barrow Acct. Trav. Interior S. Afr. 1797–8 I. iv. 256 The farmers..immediately recognised the bird to be the locust-eater... This species of thrush..is only met with in places where the migrating locust frequents. 1837 W. Swainson On Nat. Hist. & Classif. Birds II. 66 The resemblance between Petroica bicolor and the genuine locust-eaters (Gryllivora) is..remarkably strong. 1941 Nigerian Field 10 119 In India the Dial Bird is called the locust eater. † locust-eating thrush n. [after scientific Latin Turdus gryllivora, former species name (1775)] Obsolete a magpie robin (genus Copsychus (formerly Gryllivora)); cf. locust eater n. ΚΠ 1801 J. Barrow Acct. Trav. Interior S. Afr. 1797–8 I. iv. 301 The branches of these were loaded with many thousands of the nests of the locust-eating thrush. 1816 W. Kirby & W. Spence Introd. Entomol. (1818) II. xvi. 9 The locust-eating Thrush. 1887 Brit. Bee Jrnl. 13 Oct. 449/1 The locust-eating thrush is always to be found accompanying the locust. locust flower n. a flower of the black locust, Robinia pseudoacacia, or other species of Robinia. ΚΠ 1814 R. Alsop Universal Receipt Bk. 247 (heading) Elder or Locust flower Fritters. 1899 E. J. Chapman Lake Scenes in Drama Two Lives 96 Pink-lipp'd locust flowers, Hanging in thousands. 2005 J. Maloof Teaching Trees (2007) 67 I want to do nothing but feast my eyes on the colorful irises and breathe in the sweet smell of the locust flowers all day long. locust-killer n. U.S. (now rare) (also locust-killer wasp) either of two large solitary wasps of North America, the cicada-killer, Sphecius speciosus, which preys on cicadas, and Prionyx thomae, which preys on grasshoppers. ΚΠ 1865 Amer. Agriculturist Nov. 334/2 The wasp-like insect..which digs holes in the garden like big ant-hills, and stings badly, is the Hogardia speciosus, or locust-killer. 1905 Trans. Texas Acad. Sci. 7 75 (heading) Priononyx Thomae (Fabre), the Locust Killer. 1960 M. B. Stewart Southern Gardener ii. 25 I mention the locust-killer wasp, Sphecius speciosus because we do see it occasionally in the South. locust lobster n. any of various lobster-like crustaceans of the decapod family Scyllaridae, characterized by antennae that are broadened into wide plates; also called slipper lobster. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Malacostraca > division Thoracostraca > order Decapoda > suborder Macrura > member of family Scyllaridae locust lobster1778 crawfish1860 kreef1863 Moreton Bay bug1970 1778 Encycl. Brit. III. 1610/1 The locusta, or locust-lobster. 1854 A. Adams et al. Man. Nat. Hist. 291 Locust-Lobsters (Scyllaridæ). 1919 C. H. Townsend Guide N.Y. Aquarium 134 The Sea Roach or Locust Lobster (Scyllarides aequinoctialis) is an interesting crustacean often brought to the aquarium from Bermuda or Florida. 2007 J. J. Kappes Florida Spiny Lobster 39 The other edible..marine crustaceans such as the spiny lobster, Maine lobster, locust lobster, crabs, and shrimp. locust post n. a post made of locust wood. ΚΠ 1700 All Laws of Maryland 45 A good and substantial Locust Post, or other durable Wood to be six foot under ground at the least, and five foot above. 1825 W. Cobbett Woodlands § 334 My Locust posts came safely to London. 1999 BackHome Mar. 31/1 I attached a 2 × 4 across the top of the south wall locust posts. locust shrimp n. a mantis shrimp (order Stomatopoda); esp. Squilla mantis (family Squillidae) of the Mediterranean and eastern Atlantic. ΘΚΠ the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Crustacea > [noun] > subclass Malacostraca > division Thoracostraca > order Stomatopoda > member of family Squillidae squilla1658 sea grasshopper1668 squill-fish1681 squill1710 sea mantis1835 squillian1842 mantis crab1850 locust shrimp1867 mantis shrimp1871 mantid1941 1867 G.J. Allman Syllabus Lect. Zool. & Geol. (new ed.) 9 Decapoda.—Ex. Lobsters (Homarus), Shrimps (Crangon), Locust-shrimps (Squilla), Crabs (Cancer, Carcinus). 1901 Twentieth Cent. Cycl. VIII. 85/2 The best known of the numerous species is the locust shrimp, mantis-crab, or mantis-shrimp (S. mantis) of the Mediterranean. 1996 Oceanologica Acta 19 127/2 (caption) Holes are attributed to the locust shrimp Squilla mantis. † locust stick n. U.S. Obsolete = locust club n. ΘΚΠ society > armed hostility > military equipment > weapon > club or stick > [noun] > constable's or watchman's pestlea1500 baton?1590 locust club1850 locust1857 locust stick1859 nightclub1882 nightstick1887 billy1889 1859 Charleston (S. Carolina) Tri-weekly Courier 29 Sept. He was not compelled to wear his locust stick. 1919 P. G. Wodehouse Their Mutual Child i. i. 16 The policeman..relieved his feelings by dispersing the crowd with well-directed prods of his locust stick. locust wood n. the wood of a locust tree; esp. the hard wood of the black locust, Robinia pseudoacacia. ΘΚΠ society > occupation and work > materials > raw material > wood > wood of specific trees > [noun] > wood of other specific trees thornc1330 poplara1450 asp1551 angelin1670 dogwood1670 serpent-wood1681 locust wood1742 canarium1776 stave-wood1778 lacewood1803 Canary wood1820 chestnut1823 brier-wood1868 jasmine-wood1870 angelique1873 sakura1911 1742 W. Ellis Timber-tree Improved (ed. 3) II. xxxii. 166 Where the Natives can't get Locust-wood, they use this to make their Bows. 1874 2nd Rep. Vermont State Board Agric. 1873–4 777 Clytus robiniae. The larvae feed upon locust wood. 1996 A. Theroux Secondary Colors 251 Locust wood, when freshly cut, is green and hard as a boulder. locust years n. [with allusion to Joel 2:25; compare quots. c1384, 1611] years of poverty or hardship. ΘΚΠ the world > action or operation > adversity > [noun] > time of stoundOE SeptuagesimaOE winterc1425 plague time1549 plague year1549 stour1579 Winter of the Rals1846 locust years1948 c1384 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Douce 369(2)) (1850) Joel ii. 25 Y shal ȝeelde to you the ȝeris whom the locust eete. 1611 Bible (King James) Joel ii. 25 And I will restore to you the yeeres that the locust hath eaten. View more context for this quotation] 1948 W. S. Churchill Second World War I. i. v. 52 (heading) The Locust Years, 1931–1935. 1962 Listener 19 July 107/3 Sir Winston Churchill applied the phrase, the locust years, to the middle thirties, when vigorous rearmament should have begun. 1970 Times 27 May 8 Yet before these locust years of Labour, we had the Conservative years of rising prosperity. 2002 Daily Tel. 21 Nov. 40/6 Sir Peter Davis, Sainsbury's chief exec, can fairly distance himself from the seven locust years which preceded his return to the group. Derivatives ˈlocust-like adv. and adj. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > [adverb] ruinouslyc1450 perniciously1533 consuminglya1542 wastefully?1567 locust-like1596 fatallya1616 extinctively1633 destructively1661 shatteringly1818 destroyingly1820 corrosively1831 the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > processes or manners of eating > [adverb] > eating voraciously greedilyc1000 frecklyc1275 ravenously?a1425 frechedlyc1450 raveningly1533 devouringly1552 locust-like1596 gulchingly1598 greedy1599 voraciously1752 1596 W. Warner Albions Eng. (rev. ed.) x. lv. 245 Her Guizards..into Scotland Locusts-like[sic] in her Pretext did swarme. 1662 G. Wither Paralellogrammaton 85 The Locusts, presignified that innumerable company of Locust-like unprofitable Cardinals, Abbots, Prelates, Monks, Fryars, Jesuites, and such-like devouring Animals. 1771 M. A. Meilan Northumberland i. ii. 21 Once more our church shall groan beneath the scourge Of superstitious priests, who, locust like,—Where'er they wheel their pestilential flight,—Spread universal ruin. 1796 B. Waller Poems Several Occasions 96 See! Locust-like they pour their hosts O'er Belgium's flat champaign. 1855 J. R. Leifchild Cornwall: Mines & Miners 25 Locust-like, they had devoured the edibles, and left us remains which were neither tender nor tempting. 1909 Outing Oct. 16/2 His ear [must be] quick to catch the locust-like warnings of deadly rattlesnakes. 2009 R. Kennedy Couch Tales vi. 75 It is a picturesque little place, unspoilt by locust-like tourists. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022). locustv. Brit. /ˈləʊkəst/, U.S. /ˈloʊkəst/ Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: locust n. Etymology: < locust n. transitive. To devour or destroy (something) in a locust-like manner. Also intransitive. ΘΚΠ the world > existence and causation > creation > destruction > destroy [verb (transitive)] to bring to noughteOE forspillc893 fordilghec900 to bring to naughtOE astryea1200 stroyc1200 forferec1275 misdoa1325 destroyc1330 naught1340 dingc1380 beshenda1400 devoida1400 unshapea1400 to wend downa1400 brittenc1400 unloukc1400 perishc1426 defeat1435 unmake1439 lithc1450 spend1481 kill1530 to shend ofc1540 quade1565 to make away1566 discreate1570 wrake1570 wracka1586 unwork1587 gaster1609 defease1621 unbe1624 uncreate1633 destructa1638 naufragate1648 stifle1725 stramash1788 disannul1794 destructify1841 locust1868 to knock out1944 dick1972 the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > processes or manners of eating > eat via specific process [verb (transitive)] > eat voraciously forswallowOE gulch?c1225 afretea1350 moucha1350 glop1362 gloup1362 forglut1393 worrya1400 globbec1400 forsling1481 slonk1481 franch1519 gull1530 to eat up1535 to swallow up1535 engorge1541 gulp1542 ramp1542 slosh1548 raven1557 slop1575 yolp1579 devour1586 to throw oneself on1592 paunch1599 tire1599 glut1600 batten1604 frample1606 gobbet1607 to make a (also one's) meal on (also upon)a1616 to make a (also one's) meal of1622 gorge1631 demolish1639 gourmanda1657 guttle1685 to gawp up1728 nyam1790 gamp1805 slummock1808 annihilate1815 gollop1823 punish1825 engulf1829 hog1836 scoff1846 brosier1850 to pack away1855 wolf1861 locust1868 wallop1892 guts1934 murder1935 woof1943 pelicana1953 pig1979 1868 H. P. Arnold Great Exhib. xxxiii. 483 The swarm of imbeciles, the issue of royal loins, that fate has inflicted upon the nations of Europe to locust the earnings of the people. 1875 Ld. Tennyson Queen Mary ii. i. 65 This Philip and the black-faced swarms of Spain,..Come locusting upon us, eat us up. 1973 Illustr. Weekly India 7 Jan. 33/3 The children had locusted the drifts of potato crisps and the pyramids of samosas. 1978 D. Brutus Stubborn Hope 43 The sight of these uniformed men locusting the earth for their fat harvesters fills me with sadness. 2007 Sunday Times (Nexis) 27 May (News Review section) 4 You ain't seen nothing till you've seen a party of Thors locusting their way through the swim-up bar. This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, December 2015; most recently modified version published online March 2022). < n.c1350v.1868
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locustn.

Compounds

Derivatives

locustv.