boll weevil

American  

noun

1. a snout beetle, Anthonomus grandis, that attacks the bolls of cotton.

2. Informal. (especially in the U.S. Congress) a Southern Democrat with conservative views who often votes with the Republicans as part of a Southern or conservative power bloc.

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boll weevil British  

noun

1. a greyish weevil, Anthonomus grandis , of the southern US and Mexico, whose larvae live in and destroy cotton bolls See also weevil

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Etymology

Origin of boll weevil

An Americanism dating back to 1890–95

Example Sentences

By the 1970s, one-third of all pesticides applied in the United States were used to fight the boll weevil, according to the USDA.

From Washington Post • Oct. 7, 2022

So the migration is as much about work and the boll weevil as it is about this notion of opportunity.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 20, 2022

The cotton boll weevil is considered a major pest because of the damage it does to cotton plants.

From Textbooks • Sep. 6, 2018

A boll weevil monument in Enterprise pays tribute the agricultural pest that prompted the region’s shift from cotton to peanuts and other crops.

From Washington Times • Jul. 11, 2018

Beginning in the spring of 1919, the insect known as the boll weevil had destroyed entire cotton crops, throwing thousands of black agricultural workers out of work.

From "1919 The Year That Changed America" by Martin W. Sandler