▪ I. defoliate, a. rare—0.
(dɪˈfəʊlɪət)
[ad. med.L. dēfoliāt-us: see next.]
‘Having cast, or being deprived of, its leaves’ (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1883).
▪ II. defoliate, v.
(dɪˈfəʊlɪeɪt)
[f. med.L. dēfoliāre, f. de- I. 6 + folium leaf. Cf. defoil.]
trans. To strip of leaves; also fig.
| 1793 W. Roberts Looker-on (1794) II. No. 48. 213 To contemplate the decay of a great and ornamented mind..to see it defoliated and withered. 1816 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. (1843) I. 173 One of these caterpillars..is often so numerous as to defoliate the apple trees by the road sides for miles. 1882 Proc. Berw. Nat. Club IX. 435 Arbutus Unedo was not only defoliated, but the stems..have been split. |
Hence deˈfoliator, that which defoliates; an insect that strips trees of their leaves.
| 1887 Amer. Naturalist XXI. 580 Dr. Riley has published Bulletin No. 10 of the Division of Entomology, U.S. Dept. Agr., entitled ‘Our Shade-Trees and their Insect Defoliators’. 1897 Pop. Sci. Monthly IV. 428 The leaf defoliators, as the rose chafer and flea beetle. 1936 Forestry X. 47 Repeated attacks by such forest insects as defoliators. |