black-beetle

‘Move and crush the tormentor,’ and it would have moved and at the very instant have crushed him like a black-beetle, and I should have walked away as though nothing had happened, praising and glorifying God.

The Brothers Karamazov 2003

No more than the life of a louse, of a black-beetle, less in fact because the old woman is doing harm.

Crime and Punishment 2002

Within five minutes two pebbles, a tin-tack, a chunk of wood and a black-beetle were on the tablecloth ....

Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 153, July 25, 1917 Various

"Cease your grief," said the sage; "go home for the present, and return hither when you have procured a live black-beetle, together with a little _ghee_, (or buffalo's butter.) three clews, one of the finest silk, another of stout packthread, and another of whip-cord; finally, a stout coil of rope."

The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 13, No. 354, January 31, 1829 Various

For the Sergeant was already an established insect in _Punch_ before the appearance of the genuine black-beetle; and, moreover, so little did he resent it, that he used to stick the amusing little libels all round his mantelpiece.

The History of "Punch" M. H. Spielmann

As a purring tabby to a roaring jaguar, so is a British black-beetle to a cock-roach of the

Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Volume 61, No. 380, June, 1847 Various

If Houndsditch wins today, K means that I shall be able to hold up my head again and look my fellow-man in the face, instead of crawling round on my stomach and feeling like a black-beetle under a steam-roller.

The Man Upstairs and Other Stories 1928

It was as if one had diverted some terrific electric current which should have been controlling a vast system of machinery, and turned it on to annihilate a black-beetle.

Psmith in the City 1928

'"My learned friend's manner would be intolerable in an emperor to a black-beetle,"' quoted Beverley.

The Man Upstairs and Other Stories 1928

'Do you mean,' said Gerald, with the punctiliousness of a man who has been drinking, 'that you are afraid of the sight of a black-beetle, or you are afraid of a black-beetle biting you, or doing you some harm?'

Women in Love 1907