KJV Dictionary Definition: beetle

beetle

BEE'TLE, n.

1. A heavy mallet or wooden hammer,used to drive wedges, beat pavements, &c.; called also a stamper, or rammer.

2. In zoology, a genus of insects, the scarabaeus, of many species. The generic characters are, clavated antennae, fissile longitudinally, legs frequently dentated, and wings which have hard cases, or sheaths. The bones of these insects are placed externally, and their muscles within. They are of different sizes, from that of a pin's head, to that of a man's fist. Some are produced in a month, and go through their existence in a year; in others, four years are required to produce them, and they live as winged insects a year more. They have various names, as the may-bug, the dorr-beetle, the cock-chaffer, the tumble-dung, the elephant-beetle,&c. The latter, found in South America,is the largest species, being four inches long.

BEE'TLE, v.i. bee'tl. To jut; to be prominent; to hang or extend out; as, a cliff that beetles over its base.

beetling

BEE'TLING, ppr. Jutting; being prominent; standing out from the main body.