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Weevil

 - 3 dictionary results

wee⋅vil

  [wee-vuhl]
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–noun
1. Also called snout beetle. any of numerous beetles of the family Curculionidae, which have the head prolonged into a snout and which are destructive to nuts, grain, fruit, etc.
2. any of numerous related beetles.
Origin:
bef. 900; ME wevel, OE wifel; c. OHG wibil beetle; akin to wave
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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wee·vil   (wē'vəl)   
n.  Any of numerous beetles, of the superfamily Curculionoidea, especially the snout beetle, that characteristically have a downward-curving snout and are destructive to nuts, fruits, stems, and roots.

[Middle English wevel, from Old English wifel; see webh- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

weevil 
O.E. wifel "small beetle," from P.Gmc. *webilaz (cf. O.S. wibil, O.H.G. wibil, Ger. Wiebel "beetle, chafer," O.N. tordyfill "dung beetle"), cognate with Lith. vabalas "beetle," from PIE base *webh- "to weave," also "to move quickly" (see weave). The sense gradually narrowed to a particular kind of beetle that, in larval or adult stages, bores into plants, often destroying them.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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