buprestidan
English
Etymology
Latin buprestis, Ancient Greek a poisonous beetle, which, being eaten by cattle in the grass, caused them to swell up and and die; ox, cow + to blow up, swell out.
Noun
buprestidan (plural buprestidans)
- (zoology, chiefly in the plural) One of a tribe of beetles, of the genus Buprestis and allied genera, usually with brilliant metallic colours, whose larvae are destructive to trees.
Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for buprestidan in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.)