CATERPILLAR

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does Caterpillar mean? 

• CATERPILLAR (noun)
  The noun CATERPILLAR has 2 senses:

1. a wormlike and often brightly colored and hairy or spiny larva of a butterfly or moth

2. a large tracked vehicle that is propelled by two endless metal belts; frequently used for moving earth in construction and farm work

  Familiarity information: CATERPILLAR used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CATERPILLAR (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A wormlike and often brightly colored and hairy or spiny larva of a butterfly or moth

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("caterpillar" is a kind of...):

larva (the immature free-living form of most invertebrates and amphibians and fish which at hatching from the egg is fundamentally unlike its parent and must metamorphose)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "caterpillar"):

Manduca quinquemaculata; potato worm; tomato hornworm (large green white-striped hawkmoth larva that feeds on tomato and potato plants; similar to tobacco hornworm)

woolly bear; woolly bear caterpillar (caterpillar of numerous moths characterized by a dense coat of woolly hairs; feed on plants and some are destructive pests)

cabbageworm; Pieris rapae (toxic green larva of a cabbage butterfly)

bollworm (any of various moth caterpillars that destroy cotton bolls)

corn borer; Pyrausta nubilalis (larva of the European corn borer moth; a serious pest of maize)

webworm (several gregarious moth larvae that spin webs over foliage on which they feed)

lappet caterpillar (larva of a lappet moth)

tent caterpillar (the larvae of moths that build and live in communal silken webs in orchard and shade trees)

giant silkworm; silkworm; wild wilkworm (larva of a saturniid moth; spins a large amount of strong silk in constructing its cocoon)

silkworm (the commercially bred hairless white caterpillar of the domestic silkworm moth which spins a cocoon that can be processed to yield silk fiber; the principal source of commercial silk)

Manduca sexta; tobacco hornworm; tomato worm (large green white-striped hawkmoth larva that feeds on tobacco and related plants; similar to tomato hornworm)

fall armyworm; Spodoptera frugiperda (larva of a migratory American noctuid moth; destroys grasses and small grains)

beet armyworm; Spodoptera exigua (moth larva that eats foliage of beets and other vegetables)

army worm; armyworm; Pseudaletia unipuncta (noctuid moth larvae that travel in multitudes destroying especially grass and grain)

cutworm (North American moth whose larvae feed on young plant stems cutting them off at the ground)

Phthorimaea operculella; potato tuberworm (larva of potato moth; mines in leaves and stems of e.g. potatoes and tobacco)

inchworm; looper; measuring worm (small hairless caterpillar having legs on only its front and rear segments; mostly larvae of moths of the family Geometridae)

cankerworm (green caterpillar of a geometrid moth; pest of various fruit and shade trees)

tussock caterpillar (larva of a tussock moth)

Holonyms ("caterpillar" is a member of...):

Lepidoptera; order Lepidoptera (moths and butterflies)

Sense 2

Meaning:

A large tracked vehicle that is propelled by two endless metal belts; frequently used for moving earth in construction and farm work

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

cat; Caterpillar

Hypernyms ("Caterpillar" is a kind of...):

tracked vehicle (a self-propelled vehicle that moves on tracks)

Domain usage:

trademark (a formally registered symbol identifying the manufacturer or distributor of a product)

 Context examples 

I have seen it displayed with such success, that I have encountered some fine ladies and gentlemen who might as well have been born caterpillars.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

The discovery about the caterpillar’s hunger for plastic was accidental, said Bertocchini, adding that the plastic bags containing the wax worms “became riddled with holes.”

(Plastic Eating Worm Could Help Ease Pollution, VOA)

Pluto works from the inside out, transforming you similarly to the way a caterpillar becomes a butterfly.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Other insects that are camouflaged, such as the brown larch ladybird or green winter moth caterpillar, are fed on by great tits and their young, said Thorogood.

(Birds learn from each other’s ‘disgust’, enabling insects to evolve bright colours, University of Cambridge)

There was a pleasing inequality in the table, which produced many mishaps to cups and plates, acorns dropped in the milk, little black ants partook of the refreshments without being invited, and fuzzy caterpillars swung down from the tree to see what was going on.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Mars expresses energy outward to the world, while Pluto expresses energy inward (to transform oneself), the way a caterpillar transforms itself into a butterfly.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)