cabbage worm

from The Century Dictionary.

• noun The larva of the cabbage-butterfly or of the cabbage-moth.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

• noun (Zoöl.) the larva of several species of moths and butterflies, which attacks cabbages. The most common is the toxic green larva of a white butterfly, the cabbage butterfly, (Pieris rapæ). The cabbage cutworms, which eat off the stalks of young plants during the night, are the larvæ of several species of moths, of the genus Agrotis. See cutworm. larva of a cabbage butterfly.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

• noun toxic green larva of a cabbage butterfly