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Jerusalem-cricket definition

Any of several nocturnal burrowing orthopteran insects of the subfamily Stenopelmatinae, especially Stenopelmatus fuscus of western North America, having a large round head and a striped abdomen.
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Any of a family (Stenopelmatidae) of burrowing, wingless, long-horned crickets common in dry regions of W U.S.
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A large, flightless insect of the genus Stenopelmatus, native to the western United States and parts of Mexico — not a true cricket.
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Other Word Forms

Noun

Singular:
jerusalem-cricket
Plural:
jerusalem-crickets

Origin of jerusalem-cricket

  • Perhaps from Jerusalem! exclamation uttered upon encountering the large insect or from partial translation during contact between the Navajo and Christian missionaries of Navajo ch’osh bich’ich łichii’ red-skull bug (in reference to the skull-like appearance of its head and the hill of Golgotha outside Jerusalem, whose name is said in the Bible (Mark 15:22) to mean place of a skull)

    From American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition