crotonbug
or Cro·ton bug
[ kroht-n-buhg ]
noun
Origin of crotonbug
11855–60, Americanism; allegedly after the Croton Reservoir in Westchester Co., N.Y.; its opening in 1842 was supposedly coincident with a rise in New York City's cockroach population; see bug1
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use crotonbug in a sentence
It is a small black-beetle or cockroach, called by scientists "Blatta germanica" and by others the "Croton Bug."
Enemies of Books | William BladesIf you dislike to touch the cockroach so much, perhaps you will look at this picture of a croton bug.
The Insect Folk | Margaret Warner MorleyThe Croton bug (Ectobia germanica) as a factor in bacterial dissemination.
The Biotic Associations of Cockroaches | Louis M. RothWe call it the croton bug, but it is not a bug at all, it is a cockroach.
The Insect Folk | Margaret Warner Morley
British Dictionary definitions for Croton bug
Croton bug
noun
US another name for the German cockroach
Origin of Croton bug
1C19: named after the Croton river, whose water was piped to New York City in 1842
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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