Definition of "tumblebug" []

• Any of various dung beetles, especially of the genera Canthon and Phanaeus, that roll up balls of fresh dung, inside which the female deposits her eggs and on which the larvae feed. (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.

• "-- H.B. [11] it wuz "tumblebug" as he Writ it, but the parson put the Latten instid. i sed tother maid better meeter, but he said tha was eddykated peepl to Boston and tha would n't stan 'it no how. idnow as tha _wood_ and idnow _as_ tha wood."
• "[Footnote A: it wuz "tumblebug" as he Writ it, but the parson put the"
• "-- H.B.] [Footnote 17: it wuz 'tumblebug' as he Writ it, but the parson put the"