caterpillar
Noun
Meaning
The larval state of a butterfly or any lepidopterous insect; sometimes, but less commonly, the larval state of other insects, as the sawflies, which are also called false caterpillars. The true caterpillars have three pairs of true legs, and several pairs of abdominal fleshy legs (prolegs) armed with hooks. Some are hairy, others naked. They usually feed on leaves, fruit, and succulent vegetables, being often very destructive, Many of them are popularly called worms, as the cutworm, cankerworm, army worm, cotton worm, silkworm.
A plant of the genus Scorpiurus, with pods resembling caterpillars.
Source: Webster's dictionarySynonyms
Hypernyms
Hyponyms
Phrases with the word
Examples
A 1907 illustrations by Arthur Rackham of the Caterpillar talking to Alice in Alice's Adventures in Wonderland William Blake's illustration of a caterpillar overlooking a child from his illustrated book For Children The Gates of Paradise.
Any predator that attempts to eat a caterpillar with an aggressive defense mechanism will learn and avoid future attempts.
Before crawling away, the caterpillar tells Alice that one side of the mushroom will make her taller and the other side will make her shorter.
A pine tree lappet moth caterpillar snacking on a pine needle.
Email “A caterpillar in pork chops and a snail in a whole chicken: Last year was a busy one for the food safety authority”.
Caterpillar has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $127.