Definition of "locust" []

• Any of numerous grasshoppers of the family Acrididae, often migrating in immense swarms that devour vegetation and crops. (noun)
• The seventeen-year locust. (noun)
• Any of several North American deciduous trees of the genus Robinia, especially R. pseudoacacia, having compound leaves, drooping clusters of fragrant white flowers, and durable hard wood. (noun)
• Any of several similar or related trees, such as the honey locust or the carob. (noun)
• The wood of one of these trees. (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.

• "The locust is white with warm heart wood, shots of brown and yellow."
• "In modern America, we associate the word locust with a grasshopper-type insect."
• "The locust is always the last to open its leaves; they are just beginning to show, and a number of others, which partake of the same character of foliage, have only preceded them by a week or so."