▪ I. † ˈcuckoo-ˌspit1 Obs.
[f. spit, a slender bar.]
= cuckoo-pint.
| c 1450 Alphita (Anecd. Oxon.) 21 Barba aaron..cokkowe-spitte. 1587 L. Mascall Govt. Cattle (1627) 267 With the iuyce of cuckospit, and salt, and stubwort mixt, and rub it therewith. |
▪ II. ˈcuckoo-ˌspit2
[f. spit, expectoration; the popular belief being that the matter was spit out by the cuckoo; cf. Germ. kuckukspeichel, Du. koekoeksspog, etc.]
1. A frothy secretion exuded by certain insects, in which their larvæ lie enveloped on the leaves, axils, etc. of plants; the insect chiefly producing it in Great Britain is the Frog-hopper, Aphrophora spumaris, or cuckoo-spit insect.
| 1592 Greene Upst. Courtier (1871) 7 Loyal lauender..full of Cuckoo spits. 1753 Chambers Cycl. Supp., Froth spit, or cuckow spit..very common in the spring, and first months of the summer, on the leaves of certain plants. 1857 Livingstone Trav. xxi. 415 While still in the pupa state it is called cuckoo-spit, from the mass of froth in which it envelopes itself. |
2. Applied locally to the Lady's Smock, etc.
| 1876 Jrnl. Hortic. 4 May 355 (in Britten & Holl.) In the north of England the plant is known only by the name of cuckoo-spit..no doubt, from the fact of almost every flower-stem having deposited upon it a frothy patch..in which is enveloped a pale green insect. |