Definition of BEETLE

beetle

Meanings

Plural: beetles

Noun

  • insect having biting mouthparts and front wings modified to form horny covers overlying the membranous rear wings
  • a tool resembling a hammer but with a large head (usually wooden); used to drive wedges or ram down paving stones or for crushing or beating or flattening or smoothing
  • Any of numerous species of insect in the order Coleoptera characterized by a pair of hard, shell-like front wings which cover and protect a pair of rear wings when at rest.
  • A game of chance in which players attempt to complete a drawing of a beetle, different dice rolls allowing them to add the various body parts.
  • Alternative letter-case form of Beetle (“car”).
  • A type of mallet with a large wooden head, used to drive wedges, beat pavements, etc.
  • A machine in which fabrics are subjected to a hammering process while passing over rollers, as in cotton mills; a beetling machine.

Verb

  • be suspended over or hang over
    • "This huge rock beetles over the edge of the town"
  • fly or go in a manner resembling a beetle
    • "He beetled up the staircase"
    • "They beetled off home"
  • beat with a beetle
  • To move (away) quickly, to scurry away.
  • To loom over; to extend or jut (above).
  • To beat with a heavy mallet.
  • To finish by subjecting to a hammering process in a beetle or beetling machine.

Adjective Satellite

  • jutting or overhanging
    • "beetle brows"

Adj

  • Protruding, jutting, overhanging.

Origin / Etymology

From Middle English bitle, bityl, bytylle, from Old English bitula, bitela, bītel (“beetle”), from Proto-West Germanic *bitilō, *bītil, from Proto-Germanic *bitilô, *bītilaz (“that which tends to bite, biter, beetle”), equivalent to bite + -le. Cognate with Old High German bicco (“beetle”), Danish bille (“beetle”), Icelandic bitil, bitul (“a bite, bit”), Faroese bitil (“small piece, bittock”).

Synonyms

beetling, bug, mallet, overhang

Scrabble Score: 8

beetle is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL word
beetle is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
beetle is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary

Words With Friends Score: 10

beetle is a valid Words With Friends word