cuckoo-spit

American  

[koo-koo-spit, kook-oo-] / ˈku kuˌspɪt, ˈkʊk u- /

noun

1. Also called frog spit.  a frothy secretion found on plants, exuded by the young of certain insects, as the froghoppers, and serving as a protective covering.

2. an insect that produces this secretion.

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cuckoo spit British  

noun

1. Also called: frog spit.  a white frothy mass on the stems and leaves of many plants, produced by froghopper larvae ( cuckoo spit insects ) which feed on the plant juices

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Etymology

Origin of cuckoo-spit

1350–1400; Middle English cokkowespitle cuckoopint; so called from the spitlike secretion found on the plant and thought to be left by the bird

Example Sentences

In the North of England this plant is known as cuckoo-spit, because almost every flower stem has deposited upon it a frothy patch not unlike human saliva, in which is enveloped a pale green insect.

From The Folk-lore of Plants by Dyer, T. F. Thiselton (Thomas Firminger Thiselton)

Happily our periodical blight is expiring, like cuckoo-spit, in its own bubbles; and the time is returning when the bottle-blister will not be accepted as the good ripe peach.

From Springhaven : a Tale of the Great War by Blackmore, R. D. (Richard Doddridge)

There is no commoner sight in the early summer than the cuckoo-spit on the grasses and herbage by the wayside.

From The Outline of Science, Vol. 1 (of 4) A Plain Story Simply Told by Thomson, J. Arthur

Oh, I imagine it— Married to Robin, by a fat hedge-priest Under an altar of hawthorn, with a choir Of sparrows, and a spray of cuckoo-spit For holy water!

From Collected Poems Volume Two by Noyes, Alfred

They call it cuckoo-spit, from its plentiful appearance about the arrival of that bird.

From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 20, No. 558, July 21, 1832 by Various