Beatle

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A small insect with a hard outer wing covering and chewing mouthparts, forming the largest order of insects ; a heavy wooden hammer used for ramming, pounding or driving wedges
2. Any insect that has hardened forewings protecting its back, found in a huge variety of habitats ; a large, weighty mallet made of wood for pounding or driving posts
3. A winged bug whose front pair of wings forms a protective shell over its body ; a stout club-like wooden tool swung to hammer, pound or compact material

Etymology: The word "beatle" is simply a misspelling of "beetle," so its history is the history of the insect name. That name is built from "bite" plus the suffix "-le," so the beetle was literally "that which tends to bite," a biter. The same root gave Old English "bitula" and "bitela," and the word has been recognisably the same since the Middle English period. A second, separate origin is worth knowing. "Beetle" also meant a wooden mallet, from Old English "bȳtel," built on the root of "beat" plus the same "-le" suffix, so this tool was literally a beater. The two words are unrelated despite sharing a spelling, and both are older than the insect's most familiar sense. The insect sense also gave English a phrase. "Beetle-browed," from Middle English "bitel-brouwed," described heavy, bushy eyebrows, possibly by comparison with the antennae of some beetles.

Synonyms: beetle, mallet