beetle

Etymology 1

From Middle English bitle, bityl, bytylle, from Old English bitula, bitela, bītel (“beetle”), from Proto-West Germanic *bitilō, *bītil, from Proto-Germanic *bitilô, *bītilaz (“that which tends to bite, biter, beetle”), equivalent to bite + -le. Cognate with Old High German bicco (“beetle”), Danish bille (“beetle”), Icelandic bitil, bitul (“a bite, bit”), Faroese bitil (“small piece, bittock”).

noun

1. 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. (uncountable) A game of chance in which players attempt to complete a drawing of a beetle, different dice rolls allowing them to add the various body parts.
   Guessing competitions were tackled with much enthusiasm, followed by a beetle drive, and judging by the laughter, this was popular with all. 1944, Queen's Nurses' Magazine, volumes 33-35, page 12
3. Alternative letter-case form of Beetle (“car”)
   For quotations using this term, see Citations:beetle.

verb

1. To move (away) quickly, to scurry away.
   He beetled off on his vacation.
   I beetled across to our table, but no Pauline, no Mr Cresswell, no Mr Rudyard. 1982, A Woman of No Importance (TV programme)
   […] But he seems to have beetled off somewhere as usual. […] 1983, Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night, Mountaineers Books, page 144
   In the falling darkness Harry saw small collections of lights as they passed over more villages, then a winding road on which a single car was beetling its way home through the hills. … 2003, J. K. Rowling, “The Department of Mysteries”, in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, page 766
   Her eyes still closed, his aunt smiled cruelly. “I know what you are dying to say, Bertie. Go ahead—take the cheap shot. I’ll squash you like the nasty little bug you are.” ¶ Thus chastened, the little man beetled away. 2005, James Doss, The Witch's Tongue, page 178

Etymology 2

From Middle English bitel-brouwed (“beetle-browed”). Possibly after beetle, from the fact that some beetles have bushy antennae.

adj

1. Protruding, jutting, overhanging.
   beetle brows

verb

1. To loom over; to extend or jut.
   The heavy chimney beetled over the thatched roof.
   Each beetling rampart, and each tower sublime. 1822, William Wordsworth, In a Carriage, upon the Banks of the Rhin
   I was indeed gently affected, and shared his fears, remembering well the bulging walls of the old house, and the toppling mass of heavy chimney work which beetled over the roof, beneath which these poor doves had made their nest. 1858 January-March, Dean of Pimlico, “A Story for the New Year”, in Dublin University Magazine reprinted in Littell's Living Age, volume 56 (volume 20 of the second series), Littell, Son & Company, page 63
   Impelled by some obscure quest, I ascended a rift or cleft in this beetling precipice, noting as I did so the black mouths of many fearsome burrows extending from both walls into the depths of the stony plateau. 1941, Chapman Miske, The Thing in the Moonlight

Etymology 3

From Middle English betel, from Old English bȳtl, bīetel (“hammer”), from Proto-West Germanic *bautil (“hammer, mallet”), equivalent to beat + -le. Cognate with Low German Bötel (“mallet”).

noun

1. A type of mallet with a large wooden head, used to drive wedges, beat pavements, etc.
2. A machine in which fabrics are subjected to a hammering process while passing over rollers, as in cotton mills; a beetling machine.

verb

1. To beat with a heavy mallet.
2. To finish by subjecting to a hammering process in a beetle or beetling machine.
   to beetle cotton goods