locust
noun /ˈləʊkəst/
/ˈləʊkəst/
- a large insect that lives in hot countries and sometimes flies in large groups, destroying all the plants and crops of an area
- a swarm of locusts
- The locusts have destroyed a lot of the crops.
Oxford Collocations Dictionary… of locusts- plague
- swarm
- descend on
- destroy
- swarm
Word OriginMiddle English: via Old French locuste from Latin locusta ‘locust, crustacean’.