ladybird
See also: lady-bird
English
Alternative forms
Etymology
From lady + bird, the “lady” here referring to the Virgin Mary, Jesus’ mother. Compare German Marienkäfer (literally “Mary beetle”).
Noun
ladybird (plural ladybirds)
- Any of the Coccinellidae family of beetles, typically having a round shape and red or yellow spotted elytra.
- Synonym: ladybug
- 1914, Entomological Society of America, Annals of the Entomological Society of America, Volume 7, page 81,
- During this time, they eat about 825 Toxoptera per ladybird, making an average of about twenty-five per day to each ladybird.
- 1927, Hamilton Wright Mabie, Edward Everett Hale, and William Byron Forbush (editors), Childhood′s Favorites and Fairy Stories: The Young Folks Treasury, Volume 1, Gutenberg eBook #19993,
- Lady-bird, lady-bird, fly away home, / Thy house is on fire, thy children all gone: / All but one whose name is Ann, / And she crept under the pudding-pan.
- 1976 September 30, Denis Owen, Ladybird, ladybird, fly away home, New Scientist, page 686,
- Ladybirds, unlike most beetles, enjoy considerable popularity: they are attractive to look at and are well-known as useful predators of aphids—the greenfly and blackfly that destroy garden plants and crops.
- 2008, John L. Capinera, Encyclopedia of Entomology, Springer-Verlag New York, 2nd Edition, page 2130,
- Perhaps it was a sense of lack of effectiveness of native ladybirds in rapid and complete control of aphid infestations that led to attempts to import additional aphid-feeding ladybird species into North America.
Usage notes
The term ladybird is used both in British and in US English, although the alternative ladybug is common in the US.
Synonyms
- (beetle): coccinellid, ladybug (North America), lady beetle (term preferred by some scientists), lady cow (obsolete), lady fly (obsolete)
Translations
member of Coccinellidae
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