Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Weevil

Wee′vil

,
Noun.
[OE.
wivel
,
wevil
, AS.
wifel
,
wibil
; akin to OD.
wevel
, OHG.
wibil
,
wibel
, G.
wiebel
,
wibel
, and probably to Lith.
vabalas
beetle, and E.
weave
. See
Weave
.]
(Zool.)
Any one of numerous species of snout beetles, or Rhynchophora, in which the head is elongated and usually curved downward. Many of the species are very injurious to cultivated plants. The larvae of some of the species live in nuts, fruit, and grain by eating out the interior, as the plum weevil, or curculio, the nut weevils, and the grain weevil (see under
Plum
,
Nut
, and
Grain
). The larvae of other species bore under the bark and into the pith of trees and various other plants, as the pine weevils (see under
Pine
). See also
Pea weevil
,
Rice weevil
,
Seed weevil
, under
Pea
,
Rice
, and
Seed
.

Webster 1828 Edition


Weevil

WEEVIL

,
Noun.
[G.] A small insect that does great damage to wheat or other corn, by eating into the grains and devouring the farinaceous part. This insect is of the beetle kind, somewhat large than a louse.

Definition 2024


weevil

weevil

English

Noun

weevil (plural weevils)

  1. Any of several small herbivorous beetles in the superfamily Curculionoidea. Many of them have 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.
  4. (derogatory) A loathsome person.
    • 1972, Jack Lindsay, Fires in Smithfield: a novel of Mary Tudor's reign (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

Derived terms

Translations