doodlebug
/ˈduːd(ə)lbʌɡ
/noun informal
1British informal term for V-1.Londoners under attack would come to know it as the doodlebug or buzz bomb, so called for the mechanical hum it made before dropping on its target....
- In 1943, I joined the Royal Marines at the Commando Training Unit, Lympstone, Devon, so I missed the doodlebugs and most of the V2 rockets.
- In many ways the crowd at a football match is like a World War Two doodlebug - it's when it stops making a noise that those on the ground should panic.
2North American The larva of an ant lion.I was so fascinated by ants, wasps, and doodlebugs that I would have squatted in the road all day too, but unfortunately I did not inherit the slow gene....
- One guy ate doodlebugs and another packed mud in his pants.
3US An unscientific device for locating oil or minerals; a divining rod.
3.1A prospector for oil or minerals.
4A small car or other vehicle.The ‘Rainier Skunk’, which had operated from Portland to Rainier since 1915 with a GE doodlebug, was replaced by a bus in 1924.
Origin
Mid 19th century (in sense 2): from 17th-century doodle 'ninny' + bug.