sow-bug
[f. sow n.1 5 a.]
a. A wood-louse of the genus Oniscus, esp. O. asellus. b. U.S. A small marine crustacean of the genus Idotea.
| 1750 W. Ellis Country Housew. Comp. 157 Sow-bug or Wood-louse. 1815 Kirby & Sp. Entomol. iv. (1818) I. 141 He recommends to his credulous patient to take a certain number of sow-bugs per diem. 1851 Beck's Florist 41 One of the pits, that was full of sow-bugs. 1883 Harper's Mag. Jan. 186/1 The common sow-bug (idotæa) often illumines the crevices and sea-weeds along our shores. |