cuckoo-spit
Also called frog spit. a frothy secretion found on plants, exuded by the young of certain insects, as the froghoppers, and serving as a protective covering.
an insect that produces this secretion.
Origin of cuckoo-spit
1Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use cuckoo-spit in a sentence
Cuckoo spit; the violet: merely the translation of the Irish name, sail-chuach, spittle of cuckoos.
English As We Speak It in Ireland | P. W. JoyceCuckoo spit: liquid in the form of bubbles produced by members of the family Cercopidae and which often conceals the producer.
Explanation of Terms Used in Entomology | John. B. SmithThey call it cuckoo-spit, from its plentiful appearance about the arrival of that bird.
There is no commoner sight in the early summer than the cuckoo-spit on the grasses and herbage by the wayside.
The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4) | J. Arthur Thomson
British Dictionary definitions for cuckoo spit
a white frothy mass on the stems and leaves of many plants, produced by froghopper larvae (cuckoo spit insects) which feed on the plant juices: Also called: frog spit
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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