wee·vil

(wē′vəl)

Any of numerous beetles of the superfamily Curculionoidea, especially the snout beetles, that characteristically have a downward-curving snout and are destructive to nuts, fruits, stems, and roots.

[Middle English wevel, from Old English wifel; see webh- in Indo-European roots.]

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

weevil

(ˈwiːvɪl)

1. (Animals) Also called: snout beetle any beetle of the family Curculionidae, having an elongated snout (rostrum): they are pests, feeding on plants and plant products. See also boll weevil

2. (Animals) Also called: pea weevil or bean weevil any of various beetles of the family Bruchidae (or Lariidae), the larvae of which live in the seeds of leguminous plants

3. (Animals) any of various similar or related beetles

[Old English wifel; related to Old High German wibil; compare Old Norse tordӯfill dungbeetle]

ˈweevily adj

Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014

wee•vil

(ˈwi vəl)

n.

any of numerous beetles of the family Curculionidae, having the head prolonged into a snout, and destructive to nuts, grain, fruit, etc.

Also called snout beetle.

[before 900; Middle English wevel, Old English wifel, c. Old Saxon goldwivil glowworm, Old High German wibil beetle; perhaps akin to wave]

wee′vil•y, wee′vil•ly, adj.

ThesaurusAntonymsRelated WordsSynonymsLegend:

Noun

weevil - any of several families of mostly small beetles that feed on plants and plant products; especially snout beetles and seed beetles

beetle - insect having biting mouthparts and front wings modified to form horny covers overlying the membranous rear wings

snout beetle - small weevil having a prolonged snout; destructive to e.g. grains and nuts

Anthonomus grandis, boll weevil - greyish weevil that lays its eggs in cotton bolls destroying the cotton

darkling beetle, darkling groung beetle, tenebrionid - sluggish hard-bodied black terrestrial weevil whose larvae feed on e.g. decaying plant material or grain

seed beetle, seed weevil - a small beetle that infests the seeds of legumes

black weevil, rice weevil, Sitophylus oryzae - brown weevil that infests stored grain especially rice

Translations

kärsäkäs

zsizsik

weevil

[ˈwiːvl] N → gorgojo m

Collins Spanish Dictionary - Complete and Unabridged 8th Edition 2005 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1971, 1988 © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 1993, 1996, 1997, 2000, 2003, 2005

weevil

[ˈwiːvɪl] n → charançon m

Collins English/French Electronic Resource. © HarperCollins Publishers 2005

weevil

n → Rüsselkäfer m

Collins German Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged 7th Edition 2005. © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1980 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1997, 1999, 2004, 2005, 2007

weevil

[ˈwiːvl] n (Zool) → tonchio

Collins Italian Dictionary 1st Edition © HarperCollins Publishers 1995

Mentioned in

References in classic literature

If you had the pluck of a weevil in a biscuit you would catch them still."

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Cato says, the master of a family (patremfamilias) must have in his rustic villa "cellam oleariam, vinariam, dolia multa, uti lubeat caritatem expectare, et rei, et virtuti, et gloriae erit," that is, "an oil and wine cellar, many casks, so that it may be pleasant to expect hard times; it will be for his advantage, and virtue, and glory." I had in my cellar a firkin of potatoes, about two quarts of peas with the weevil in them, and on my shelf a little rice, a jug of molasses, and of rye and Indian meal a peck each.

View in context

Tulliver was, on the whole, a man of safe traditional opinions; but on one or two points he had trusted to his unassisted intellect, and had arrived at several questionable conclusions; amongst the rest, that rats, weevils, and lawyers were created by Old Harry.

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Control of the boll weevil by mechanically destroying fallen infested cotton squares.

Spatial and temporal distribution of cotton squares and small cotton bolls fallen on ground after damage by boll weevil and the efficiency of the equipment used to collect them/Distribuicao espacial e temporal dos botoes florais e pequenas macas de algodao caidas ao solo danificadas pelo bicudo e eficiencia de equipamento para coleta-los

VINE WEEVIL These beetles can prove devastating to plants, particularly those in pots, but also among strawberry plants.

Having problems with pests?

VINE WEEVIL These beetles can devastate your pot plants and strawberries.

Good vs weevil; Get rid of nasty unwelcome garden pests this summer to keep your fruit and veg safe

The structural differentiation of rostrum in male and female adults of rice weevil, Sitophilus oryzae was examined under the light and electron microscopes to understand its functional potential in infestation/ovipositional tactics.

SHORT COMMUNICATION - INSIGHTS INTO THE FUNCTIONAL POTENTIAL OF THE RICE WEEVIL ROSTRUM BASED ON MICROSTRUCTURE

Riyadh, Rajab 6, 1438, Apr 3, 2017, SPA -- Scientific consultations of the International Plant Protection Convention (IPPC) to stop the Red Palm Weevil have concluded in the Italian capital, Rome.

IPPC on Stopping Palm Red Weevil Concludes Consultations

ROME, April 2 (KUNA) -- Eradication of the Red Palm Weevil will be a top priority for the broad cooperation between Kuwait and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) once the latter operates its office in the country, said Director-General Kuwait's Public Authority of Agriculture Affairs and Fish Resources (PAAF) Faisal Al-Hasawi.

Eliminating palm weevil priority for coop. with FAO - PAAf chief

26, 2010, a live adult male weevil was recovered from a secondheavily damaged Canary Island date palm in Laguna Beach.

The palm weevil Rhynchophorus vulneratus is eradicated from Laguna Beach

Thus, unlike to polyvoltine bruchids like Acanthoscelides obtectus SAY and Callosobruchus maculatus (F.), broad bean weevil cannot reproduce and cannot develop in seed storage systems [17].

Impact of Bruchus rufimanus infestation upon broad bean seeds germination