English Explanatory Dictionary

locust

English dictionary entry

Meanings

noun
  1. Any of the grasshoppers, often polyphenic and usually swarming, in the family Acrididae that are very destructive to crops and other vegetation, especially migratory locusts (Locusta migratoria).
  2. A fruit or pod of a carob tree (Ceratonia siliqua).
  3. Any of various often leguminous trees and shrubs, especially of the genera Robinia and Gleditsia; locust tree.
  4. A cicada.
  5. A mainlander.
  6. A dose of laudanum.
verb
  1. To come in a swarm.
name
  1. A surname.

Pronunciation

/ˈləʊ.kəst/ /ˈloʊ.kəst/ en-us-locust.ogg

Word forms

locust locusts locusting locusted

Etymology

Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *lek-der.? Latin locusta Anglo-Norman locustebor. Middle English locuste English locust Inherited from Middle English locuste, locust, from Anglo-Norman locuste, Middle French locuste, and their source, Latin locustam (“locust, crustacean, lobster”, accusative of locusta). Doublet of langouste. Noun sense 3 (“kind of tree”), originally referring to the carob (compare locust bean), is based on the resemblance of the trees' beanlike seed pods to the insect and is likely a semantic loan from Ancient Greek ἀκρίς (akrís). Noun sense 5 (“mainlander”) is a semantic loan from Cantonese 蝗蟲 /蝗虫 (wong4 cung4), also meaning "locust".

Derived words

African locust American locust antilocust Australian plague locust bald locust black locust Bombay locust bristly locust brown locust camel locust Carolina locust cave locust clammy locust desert locust differential locust Egyptian locust grouse locust honey locust hoofed locust Italian locust Kelsey locust kosher locust locustal locust bean locust borer locustlike locust stick migratory locust mock locust Moroccan locust moss locust mossy locust New Mexican locust New Mexico locust plague locust post locust praying locust pygmy locust red-legged locust red locust river locust Rocky Mountain locust rose-flowering locust seventeen-year locust shipmast locust spotted locust spur-throated locust of Australia swamp locust sweet locust thirteen-year locust thorn locust thorny locust tree locust water locust West Indian locust white locust yellow locust

Translations

Albanian: karkalec Amharic: አንበጣ Western Apache: nagonełchʼiigi Arabic: جَرَادَة Arabic: جراد Arabic: جرادة Aramaic: ܩܡܨܐ Armenian: մորեխ Aromanian: lãcustã Aromanian: gãlãgustã Aromanian: scarcaletsu Aromanian: acridhã Azerbaijani: çəyirtkə Belarusian: саранчу́к Belarusian: саранча́ Bengali: পঙ্গপাল Bulgarian: скакале́ц Burmese: ကျိုင်းကောင် Burmese: ကျိုင် Catalan: llagosta Chechen: цӏоз Cherokee: ᎶᎶ Chinese Cantonese: 蝗蟲 /蝗虫 Chinese: хуончун Chinese: 草蜢 Chinese: 蝗蟲 /蝗虫 Chinese Mandarin: 蝗蟲 /蝗虫 Wu Chinese: 蝗蟲 /蝗虫 Choctaw: washa Czech: saranče Danish: vandregræshoppe Danish: græshoppe Dutch: treksprinkhaan Dutch: sprinkhaan Egyptian: z:n-H-m-L4 Erzya: таста Esperanto: akrido Esperanto: lokusto Estonian: rändtirts Finnish: kulkusirkka Fon: gbokle French: locuste French: criquet Galician: langosta Galician: lagosta Georgian: კალია German: Heuschrecke German: Wanderheuschrecke Old High German: hewispranga Gothic: 𐌸𐍂𐌰𐌼𐍃𐍄𐌴𐌹 Greek: ακρίδα Ancient Greek: ἀκρίς Hausa: fàra Hebrew: אַרְבֶּה Hebrew: חָגָב Hindi: टिड्डी
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