Definition of "beetle" []

• Any of numerous insects of the order Coleoptera, having biting mouthparts and forewings modified to form horny coverings that protect the underlying pair of membranous hind wings when at rest. (noun)
• An insect resembling a member of the order Coleoptera. (noun)
• To make one's way or move like a beetle: "Chambermaids . . . beetled from bedroom to bedroom loaded with . . . champagne” ( Vanity Fair). (verb-intransitive)
• Jutting; overhanging: beetle brows. (adjective)
• To jut; overhang: "The rocks often beetled over the road” ( Washington Irving). (verb-intransitive)

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.

• "Strangely enough, in the novel Have Space-Suit, Will Travel, Robert Heinlein used the term beetle tracking to describe the sort of typically un-serious courses that the protagonist was expected to take in high school; Heinlein was just as disparaging of the same sort of courses encountered in the typical American college campus."
• ""The more habitat we acquire, the less risk the beetle is facing, the more can be done by property owners to secure their shorelines," said Joe Gill, deputy secretary to Griffin."
• "This QuestioningEverything dung beetle is typical of the devious and petty nature of the GOP and their imbecilic supporters."