Definition of "armyworm" [armyworm]

• A caterpillar belonging to either of two genera of moth, Pseudaletia or Spodoptera, large groups of which destroy crops and other vegetation. (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.

• "Farmers were invited to educational meetings at which they were taught to identify the tomato fruitworm, the beet armyworm, and the Western yellowstriped armyworm."
• "Capricious weather combined with armyworm infestations will severely cut cereal crops in southern Africa in 1994/95, the U.N. food agency said on Thursday."
• ""There also have been reports of armyworm infestations from several countries (further reducing crop harvest margins)," the report said, referring to t by eating the leaves and then the stems."