‖ bruchus
(ˈbruːkəs)
[L. brūcus, brūchus, a. Gr. βροῦκος, βροῦχος ‘a wingless locust’.]
1. An insect; a caterpillar; = bruke.
| 1398 Trevisa Barth. De P.R. xi. vi. (1495) 393 Brucus is the brood of long flyes that dystroye corne and grasse. c 1475 Bk. Found. St. Barthol. Ch. i. vi. (1883) 52 Brucus is the issue of the buttyrflie, or he haue wynges. 1609 Bible (Douay) Ps. civ. [cv.] 34 The locust came, and the bruchus. ― Joel i. comm., Bruchus, an other fleeing litle beast, that devoureth not only fruite but also the leaves of trees. |
2. A genus of rhyncophorus beetles, of which the larvæ are destructive to pease, etc. Hence ˈbruchian, a member of the genus Bruchus.
| 1852 T. W. Harris Insects New Eng. 54 The habits of the Bruchians and their larvæ. |