weevil

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Archived revision by Hekaheka (talk | contribs) as of 14:08, 14 January 2020.
Jump to navigation Jump to search

English

WOTD – 18 June 2017
A boll weevil (Anthonomus grandis(Please check if this is already defined at target. Replace {{taxlink}} with {{taxfmt}} if already defined. Add nomul=1 if not defined.)), a weevil (sense 2) that feeds on cotton buds and flowers

Etymology

From Middle English wevel, from Old English wifel (“beetle”), from Proto-Germanic *wibilaz, from Proto-Indo-European *webʰel-, from *(h₁)webʰ- (“to wave, to weave”), said to be from the woven appearance of a weevil’s larval case,[1] + *-el-, *-l̥- (diminutive or attributive suffix); see also wave and weave.

Compare Old Saxon goldwivel, wivel (“glowworm”); Middle Low German wevel; Old High German wibil, wipil (modern German Wiebel (“beetle; chafer”)); Lithuanian vãbalas (“beetle; weevil”); Old Norse vifill, as in tordyfill (“dung beetle, scarab”) (whence Dutch tortwevel; Icelandic tordýfill, Norwegian tordivel, Old English tordwifel, Swedish tordyfvel); dialectal Russian ве́блица (véblica, “intestinal worm”).

Pronunciation

  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "RP" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈwiːv(ə)l/
  • Lua error in Module:parameters at line 290: Parameter 1 should be a valid language or etymology language code; the value "GA" is not valid. See WT:LOL and WT:LOL/E. IPA(key): /ˈwiːvɪl/
  • Audio (AU):(file)
  • Rhymes: -iːvəl
  • Hyphenation: wee‧vil

Noun

weevil (plural weevils)

  1. Any of several small herbivorous beetles in the superfamily Curculionoidea, many having a distinctive snout.
  2. Any of several small herbivorous beetles in the family Curculionidae belonging to the superfamily Curculionoidea.
  3. Any of several similar but more distantly related beetles such as the biscuit weevil (Stegobium paniceum).
  4. (figurative, derogatory) A loathsome person.
    • 1950, Jack Lindsay, Fires in Smithfield. A Novel of Mary Tudor’s Reign, London: The Bodley Head, →OCLC, page 201:
      But you accuse other men of villainy with too easy a tongue, you weevil. I have never wanted you in this matter, and I have said so.

Synonyms

  • (beetle of the family Curculionidae): snout beetle, true weevil(Please check if this is already defined at target. Replace {{vern}} with a regular link if already defined. Add novern=1 if not defined.)

Derived terms

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

References

  1. ^ “weevil, n.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 1926.
Retrieved from "https://en.wiktionary.org/w/index.php?title=weevil&oldid=58412261"