oil beetle

noun

any of several blister beetles of the genus Meloe that exude an oily fluid from the joints of their legs when disturbed.

Origin of oil beetle

First recorded in 1650–60

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use oil beetle in a sentence

Part of his motivation had been provided by the oil-beetle larvae.
The Forgotten Planet | Murray Leinster
Some of them provide me with the oil beetle and the Sitaris, rare finds at one time, today of no use to me.
The Life of the Fly | J. Henri Fabre
It happily consumes those provisions and, in time, an oil-beetle crawls out of the tunnel a mining-bee so laboriously prepared.
The Forgotten Planet | Murray Leinster
It is a protection, for it both smells and tastes so nasty that no bird will ever attempt to eat an oil-beetle.
The Animal World, A Book of Natural History | Theodore Wood
The English, because of its trick of discharging oily blood when on the defensive, call this insect the Oil-beetle.
The Glow-Worm and Other Beetles | Jean Henri Fabre

British Dictionary definitions for oil beetle

oil beetle

noun

any of various beetles of the family Meloidae that exude an oily evil-smelling blood from their joints, which deters enemies

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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