locust

locust

See also: Locust

English

Etymology

From Middle English locuste, locust, from Anglo-Norman locuste, Middle French locuste, and their source, Latin locusta (“locust, crustacean, lobster”).[1] Doublet of langouste. The sense in "Mainlander" is a calque of Cantonese 蝗蟲 (wong4 cung4), also meaning "locust".

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈləʊ.kəst/
• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈloʊ.kəst/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -əʊkəst, -oʊkəst

Noun

locust (plural locusts)

1. Any of the grasshoppers, often polyphenic and usually swarming, in the family Acrididae that are very destructive to crops and other vegetation, (especially) the migratory locust (Locusta migratoria). [from 14th c.]
2. (now historical) A fruit or pod of the carob tree. [from 16th c.]
   • 1789, Olaudah Equiano, The Interesting Narrative, vol. I, ch. 9:

     Among other articles, they brought with them a great quantity of locusts, which are a kind of pulse, sweet and pleasant to the palate, and in shape resembling French beans, but longer.

3. Any of various often leguminous trees and shrubs, especially of the genera Robinia and Gleditsia; the locust tree. [from 17th c.]
4. A cicada. [from 18th c.]
5. (Hong Kong, derogatory, offensive) A Mainlander.

Usage notes

• Sometimes confused with locus.

Hyponyms

1. American locust (Schistocerca americana)
2. Australian plague locust (Chortoicetes terminifera)
3. Bombay locust (Nomadacris succincta)
4. brown locust (Locustana pardalina)
5. desert locust (Schistocerca gregaria)
6. Italian locust (Calliptamus italicus)
7. migratory locust (Locusta migratoria)
8. Moroccan locust (Dociostaurus maroccanus)
9. red locust (Nomadacris septemfasciata)
10. Rocky Mountain locust (Melanoplus spretus) (extinct)
11. spur-throated locust (Austracris guttulosa), of Australia
12. Tree locusts (Anacridium spp.)
    1. Anacridium aegyptium (Egyptian locust).
    2. Anacridium melanorhodon, of Africa.
    3. Anacridium wernerellum, of Africa.

Translations

type of grasshopper

Albanian: karkalec (sq) m Amharic: አንበጣ (ʾänbäṭa) Apache: Western Apache: nagonełchʼiigi Arabic: جَرَادَة‎ f (jarāda) Egyptian Arabic: جراد‎ m (garād) (collective), جرادة‎ f (garāda) (singulative) Hijazi Arabic: جرادة‎ f (jarāda) Armenian: մորեխ (hy) (morex) Aromanian: lãcustã f, gãlãgustã f, scarcaletsu, acridhã f Azerbaijani: çəyirtkə (az) Belarusian: саранчу́к m (sarančúk), саранча́ f (sarančá) Bengali: পঙ্গপাল (bn) (pôṅgôpal) Bulgarian: скакале́ц (bg) m (skakaléc) Burmese: ကျိုင်းကောင် (kyuing:kaung), ကျိုင် (kyuing) Catalan: llagosta (ca) f Chechen: цӏоз (cʼoz) Cherokee: ᎶᎶ (lolo) Chinese: Cantonese: 蝗蟲, 蝗虫 (wong4 cung4) Dungan: хуончун (huončun) Mandarin: 蝗蟲／蝗虫 (zh) (huángchóng) Min Nan: 草蜢 (zh-min-nan) (chháu-muih / chháu-meh / chháu-meeh / chháu-neh / chháu-nih / chháu-mih / chháu-mé), 蝗蟲, 蝗虫 (hông-tiông / hông-thiông / hông-thâng) Wu: 蝗蟲, 蝗虫 (hhuaan zon) Czech: saranče (cs) n Danish: vandregræshoppe c, græshoppe (da) c Dutch: treksprinkhaan (nl) m, sprinkhaan (nl) m Egyptian: (znḥm) Erzya: таста (tasta) Esperanto: akrido, lokusto (eo) Estonian: rändtirts Finnish: kulkusirkka (fi) Fon: gbokle French: locuste (fr) f, criquet (fr) m Galician: langosta f, lagosta (gl) f Georgian: კალია (ḳalia) German: Heuschrecke (de) f Gothic: 𐌸𐍂𐌰𐌼𐍃𐍄𐌴𐌹 f (þramstei) Greek: ακρίδα (el) f (akrída) Ancient: ἀκρίς f (akrís) Hausa: fàra Hebrew: אַרְבֶּה‎ (he) m (arbé), חָגָב‎ (he) m (khagav) Hindi: टिड्डी f (ṭiḍḍī) Hungarian: sáska (hu) Ido: lokusto (io) Irish: lócaiste Italian: locusta (it) f Japanese: 飛蝗 (ja) (ばった, batta), イナゴ (ja) (いなご, inago) Kannada: ಮಿಡತೆ (kn) (miḍate) Kazakh: шегіртке (kk) (şegırtke) Khmer: កណ្ដូប (km) (kɑndoup) (grasshopper or locust) Korean: 메뚜기 (ko) (mettugi) Kurdish: Central Kurdish: کولە‎ (ku) (kule) Northern Kurdish: kulî (ku), melex (ku) Kyrgyz: чегиртке (ky) (çegirtke) Lao: ຕັກແຕນ (tak tǣn), ງ້ວງ (ngūang) Latin: locusta f Latvian: sisenis Lithuanian: skėrys (lt) m Macedonian: скакулец m (skakulec) Malagasy: dongara (mg) Malay: belalang (ms) (grasshopper or locust) Malayalam: വെട്ടുകിളി (veṭṭukiḷi) Maltese: ġurat m Manchu: ᠰᡝᠪᠰᡝᡥᡝᡵᡳ (sebseheri) Maori: māwhitiwhiti, rangataua, pākaurere Mongolian: царцаахай (mn) (carcaaxaj), голио (mn) (golio) Navajo: wóóneeshchʼįįdii, wóóneeshchʼįįdii nahachaʼígíí Norwegian: gresshoppe m Old English: græsstapa m, græshoppa m Old High German: hewispranga f Old Javanese: walaṅ Ossetian: Digor: мӕдух (mædux) Iron: мӕтых (mætyx) Panamint: tsapitta Pashto: ملخ‎ (ps) m (moláx) Persian: ملخ‎ (fa) (malax), میگ‎ (fa) (mayg) Plautdietsch: Heischrakj f Polish: szarańcza (pl) f Portuguese: gafanhoto (pt) m Romanian: lăcustă (ro) f Russian: саранча́ (ru) f (sarančá), саранчу́к (ru) m (sarančúk), сарана́ (ru) f (saraná) (dialectal) Santali: ᱯᱳᱦᱳ (poho) Serbo-Croatian: Cyrillic: скакавац m, цврчак m, зрикавац m Roman: skakavac (sh) m, cvrčak (sh) m, zrikavac (sh) m Slovak: saranča f Slovene: kobilica (sl) f Southern Sami: kraesienjålhtja Spanish: langosta (es) f Swahili: nzige (sw) Swedish: gräshoppa (sv) c, vandringsgräshoppa (sv) c Tagalog: balang Tajik: малах (tg) (malax) Tamil: வெட்டுக்கிளி (ta) (veṭṭukkiḷi) Telugu: మిడత (te) (miḍata) Thai: ปาทังกา (th) (bpaa-tang-gaa) Tibetan: ཚ་ག་བ (tsha ga ba) Tigrinya: ኣንበጣ (ʾanbäṭa) Tocharian B: śalāp Tswana: tsie Turkish: çekirge (tr) Turkmen: çekirtge Ugaritic: 𐎛𐎗𐎁𐎊 (ỉrby) Ukrainian: сарана́ f (saraná) Urdu: ٹڈی‎ f (ṭiḍḍī) Uyghur: چېكەتكە‎ (chëketke) Uzbek: chigirtka (uz), malax (uz) Vietnamese: châu chấu (vi) Welsh: locust m, locustiaid m pl Wolof: njéeréer bi Yiddish: היישעריק‎ m (heysherik) Zazaki: mele (diq) Zhuang: duzruemh

Verb

locust (third-person singular simple present locusts, present participle locusting, simple past and past participle locusted)

1. (intransitive) To come in a swarm.
   • 1875, Alfred Tennyson, Queen Mary: A Drama, London: Henry S. King & Co., OCLC 926377946, (please specify the page):

     This Philip and the black-faced swarms of Spain,
     The hardest, cruellest people in the world,
     Come locusting upon us, eat us up,
     Confiscate lands, goods, money […]

References

1. “locust”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, launched 2000.

Anagrams

• clouts

---

Middle English

Noun

locust

1. Alternative form of locuste