Definition of "boll weevil" [boll weevil]

• A small, grayish, long-snouted beetle (Anthonomus grandis) of Mexico and the southern United States, having adults that puncture cotton buds and larvae that hatch in and damage cotton bolls. (noun)
• Informal A conservative white Southern Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "A tiny little insect called the boll weevil had migrated from South America and was quickly destroying their crops."