flour beetle
1
6.2
- noun
- /flaʊər ˈbiːtəl/
- But to ARS entomologist Richard Beeman, this everyday pantry invader—the red flour beetle—has been the focus of more than 20 years of research.
- red flour beetle
Examples
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With their voracious appetite for stored cereals and nuts, the red flour beetle and its kin cause millions of dollars of damage annually.
Academic text (2005) -
The red flour beetle infests flour in many kitchens, causing concern for cooks.
-
The flour beetle, or Tribolium, is an age-old pest.
Academic text (2001) -
A pest for dried commodities such as corn, maize, rice, and flour is the red flour beetle, Tribolium castaneum.
Blog text (1) -
Johnson has newly added the red flour beetle to her list of culprits—a lesser pest of the nut and fruit crops but a major problem in flour mills and food-processing plants.
Academic text (2003) -
If you notice small pests in your stored grains, you may have a flour beetle problem.
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The flour beetle, a common pantry pest, can quickly multiply if left unchecked.
Synonyms
1
7.9
A small beetle that lives in and eats stored flour and grains
A small beetle that lives in and eats stored grain and flour
A small beetle that eats flour and stored grain
Surface Forms
Morphology
The compound 'flour beetle' is transparently compositional: 'flour' modifies 'beetle' to indicate a beetle associated with or found in flour (habitat/diet), so a B1 learner who knows both words can readily infer it is a small pest that infests flour or stored grains. Noun–noun modification of this kind is a common, cross-linguistic pattern and therefore predictable.
Etymology
Flour beetle is a small insect named for where it lives: flour and the beetle that hides in it. These tiny creatures hide in stored grain and spoil food, so the name now means a pantry 'pest'.