beetle

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of numerous insects of the order Coleoptera, having biting mouthparts and forewings modified to form horny coverings that protect the underlying pair of membranous hind wings when at rest.
2. n. An insect resembling a member of the order Coleoptera.
3. v. To make one's way or move like a beetle: "Chambermaids . . . beetled from bedroom to bedroom loaded with . . . champagne” ( Vanity Fair).
4. adj. Jutting; overhanging: beetle brows.
5. v. To jut; overhang: "The rocks often beetled over the road” ( Washington Irving).
6. n. A heavy mallet with a large wooden head.
7. n. A small wooden household mallet.
8. n. A machine with revolving wooden hammers that gives fabrics a lustrous sheen.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A heavy wooden mallet, used to drive wedges, consolidate earth, etc. It is made either for swinging, with the handle set in the middle of the iron-bound head, or for ramming, with the handle (provided in heavy beetles with projecting cross-pieces for the hands) set in one end of the head. In the latter form, as for the use of pavers, it is sometimes heavy enough to require two or more men to operate it. Also called a maul, and in the second form a rammer.
2. n. A wooden pestle-shaped utensil used for mashing potatoes, for beating linen, etc.
3. n. Same as beetling-machine.
4. To use a beetle on; beat with a heavy wooden mallet, as linen or cotton cloth, as a substitute for mangling.
5. To finish cloth by means of a beetling-machine.
6. n. Any insect belonging to the order Coleoptera (which see). Sometimes, however, the term is used in a more restricted sense, as equivalent in the plural to Scarabœidœ, a tribe of this order embracing more than 3,000 species, characterized by clavated antennæ), fissile longitudinally, legs frequently dentated, and wings which have hard cases or sheaths called elytra. Beetles vary in size from that of a pin's head to nearly that of a man's fist, the largest being the elephant-beetle of South America, 4 inches long. The “black beetles” of kitchens and cellars are cockroaches, and belong to the order Orthoptera.
7. Shaggy; prominent: used in beetle brow (also written beetle-brow).
8. To be prominent; extend out; overhang; jut.

Wiktionary

1. n. Any of numerous species of insect in the order Coleoptera characterized by a pair of hard, shell-like front wings which cover and protect a pair of rear wings when at rest.
2. n. A type of mallet with a large wooden head.
3. n. Nickname of two models of car made by Volkswagen.
4. v. To move away quickly, to scurry away.
5. v. To loom over.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. A heavy mallet, used to drive wedges, beat pavements, etc.
2. n. A machine in which fabrics are subjected to a hammering process while passing over rollers, as in cotton mills; -- called also beetling machine.
3. v. To beat with a heavy mallet.
4. v. To finish by subjecting to a hammering process in a beetle or beetling machine.
5. n. Any insect of the order Coleoptera, having four wings, the outer pair being stiff cases for covering the others when they are folded up. See coleoptera.
6. v. To extend over and beyond the base or support; to overhang; to jut.

WordNet 3.0

1. v. be suspended over or hang over
2. adj. jutting or overhanging
3. n. a tool resembling a hammer but with a large head (usually wooden); used to drive wedges or ram down paving stones or for crushing or beating or flattening or smoothing
4. v. beat with a beetle
5. v. fly or go in a manner resembling a beetle
6. n. insect having biting mouthparts and front wings modified to form horny covers overlying the membranous rear wings