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.
noun
Any of a family (Stenopelmatidae) of burrowing, wingless, long-horned crickets common in dry regions of W U.S.
noun
A large, flightless insect of the genus Stenopelmatus, native to the western United States and parts of Mexico — not a true cricket.
noun
Advertisement
Other Word Forms
Noun
Singular:
jerusalem-cricket
Plural:
jerusalem-cricketsOrigin 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