locust Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun migratory grasshoppers of warm regions having short antennae
  2. noun hardwood from any of various locust trees
  3. noun any of various hardwood trees of the family Leguminosae
    locust tree.

WordNet

Lo"cust noun
Etymology
L. locusta locust, grasshopper. Cf. Lobster.
Definitions
  1. (Zoöl.) Any one of numerous species of long-winged, migratory, orthopterous insects, of the family Acrididæ, allied to the grasshoppers; esp., (Edipoda, ∨ Pachytylus, migratoria, and Acridium perigrinum, of Southern Europe, Asia, and Africa. In the United States the related species with similar habits are usually called grasshoppers. See Grasshopper. ✍ These insects are at times so numerous in Africa and the south of Asia as to devour every green thing; and when they migrate, they fly in an immense cloud. In the United States the harvest flies are improperly called locusts. See Cicada.
  2. Etymol. uncertain. (Bot.) The locust tree. See Locust Tree (definition, note, and phrases).

Webster 1913