[loh-kuhst] Pronunciation Key | 1. | Also called acridid, short-horned grasshopper. any of several grasshoppers of the family Acrididae, having short antennae and commonly migrating in swarms that strip the vegetation from large areas. |
| 2. | any of various cicadas, as the seventeen-year locust. |
| 3. | any of several North American trees belonging to the genus Robinia, of the legume family, esp. R. pseudoacacia, having pinnate leaves and clusters of fragrant white flowers. |
| 4. | the durable wood of this tree. |
| 5. | any of various other trees, as the carob and the honey locust. |
] —Related forms
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.
lo·cust
(lō'kəst) Pronunciation Key
(click for larger image in new window) n.
[Middle English, from Old French locuste, from Latin locusta. Sense 3a, probably from the resemblance of its fruit to a locust.] |
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
locust (1)
"In the Hebrew Bible there are nine different names for the insect or for particular species or varieties; in the English Bible they are rendered sometimes 'locust,' sometimes 'beetle,' 'grasshopper,' 'caterpillar,' 'palmerworm,' etc. The precise application of several names is unknown." [OED]
locust (2)
| locust | |
noun | |
| 1. | migratory grasshoppers of warm regions having short antennae |
| 2. | hardwood from any of various locust trees |
| 3. | any of various hardwood trees of the family Leguminosae [syn: locust tree] |
Locust Dale, VA Zip code(s): 22948
Locust Valley, NY (CDP, FIPS 43192) Location: 40.88065 N, 73.58764 W
Population (1990): 3963 (1506 housing units)
Area: 2.7 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 11560
Locust Hill, VA Zip code(s): 23092
Locust Hill, KY Zip code(s): 40144
Locust Grove, VA Zip code(s): 22508
Locust Grove, OK (town, FIPS 43500) Location: 36.19942 N, 95.16564 W
Population (1990): 1326 (523 housing units)
Area: 1.8 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 74352
Locust Grove, GA (city, FIPS 47140) Location: 33.34535 N, 84.10503 W
Population (1990): 1681 (634 housing units)
Area: 5.3 sq km (land), 0.2 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 30248
Locust Grove, AR Zip code(s): 72550
Locust Fork, AL (town, FIPS 43888) Location: 33.90265 N, 86.62168 W
Population (1990): 342 (138 housing units)
Area: 3.4 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Locust, NC (city, FIPS 38860) Location: 35.25814 N, 80.43060 W
Population (1990): 1940 (739 housing units)
Area: 9.6 sq km (land), 0.0 sq km (water)
Zip code(s): 28097
Locust
Lo"cust\, n. [L. locusta locust, grasshopper. Cf. Lobster.]1. (Zo["o]l.) Any one of numerous species of long-winged, migratory, orthopterous insects, of the family Acridid[ae], allied to the grasshoppers; esp., (Edipoda, or Pachytylus, migratoria, and Acridium perigrinum, of Southern Europe, Asia, and Africa. In the United States the related species with similar habits are usually called grasshoppers. See Grasshopper. Note: These insects are at times so numerous in Africa and the south of Asia as to devour every green thing; and when they migrate, they fly in an immense cloud. In the United States the harvest flies are improperly called locusts. See Cicada. Locust beetle (Zo["o]l.), a longicorn beetle (Cyllene robini[ae]), which, in the larval state, bores holes in the wood of the locust tree. Its color is brownish black, barred with yellow. Called also locust borer. Locust bird (Zo["o]l.) the rose-colored starling or pastor of India. See Pastor. Locust hunter (Zo["o]l.), an African bird; the beefeater. 2. [Etymol. uncertain.] (Bot.) The locust tree. See Locust Tree (definition, note, and phrases). Locust bean (Bot.), a commercial name for the sweet pod of the carob tree.
Locust
There are ten Hebrew words used in Scripture to signify locust. In the New Testament locusts are mentioned as forming part of the food of John the Baptist (Matt. 3:4; Mark 1:6). By the Mosaic law they were reckoned "clean," so that he could lawfully eat them. The name also occurs in Rev. 9:3, 7, in allusion to this Oriental devastating insect. Locusts belong to the class of Orthoptera, i.e., straight-winged. They are of many species. The ordinary Syrian locust resembles the grasshopper, but is larger and more destructive. "The legs and thighs of these insects are so powerful that they can leap to a height of two hundred times the length of their bodies. When so raised they spread their wings and fly so close together as to appear like one compact moving mass." Locusts are prepared as food in various ways. Sometimes they are pounded, and then mixed with flour and water, and baked into cakes; "sometimes boiled, roasted, or stewed in butter, and then eaten." They were eaten in a preserved state by the ancient Assyrians. The devastations they make in Eastern lands are often very appalling. The invasions of locusts are the heaviest calamites that can befall a country. "Their numbers exceed computation: the hebrews called them 'the countless,' and the Arabs knew them as 'the darkeners of the sun.' Unable to guide their own flight, though capable of crossing large spaces, they are at the mercy of the wind, which bears them as blind instruments of Providence to the doomed region given over to them for the time. Innumerable as the drops of water or the sands of the seashore, their flight obscures the sun and casts a thick shadow on the earth (Ex. 10:15; Judg. 6:5; 7:12; Jer. 46:23; Joel 2:10). It seems indeed as if a great aerial mountain, many miles in breadth, were advancing with a slow, unresting progress. Woe to the countries beneath them if the wind fall and let them alight! They descend unnumbered as flakes of snow and hide the ground. It may be 'like the garden of Eden before them, but behind them is a desolate wilderness. At their approach the people are in anguish; all faces lose their colour' (Joel 2:6). No walls can stop them; no ditches arrest them; fires kindled in their path are forthwith extinguished by the myriads of their dead, and the countless armies march on (Joel 2:8, 9). If a door or a window be open, they enter and destroy everything of wood in the house. Every terrace, court, and inner chamber is filled with them in a moment. Such an awful visitation swept over Egypt (Ex. 10:1-19), consuming before it every green thing, and stripping the trees, till the land was bared of all signs of vegetation. A strong north-west wind from the Mediterranean swept the locusts into the Red Sea.", Geikie's Hours, etc., ii., 149.
Copyright © 2008, Dictionary.com, LLC. All rights reserved.