cutworm

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun North American moth whose larvae feed on young plant stems cutting them off at the ground

From cut + worm, from the habit of eating through the stem of plants, or possibly from cutty (“short”).

He eats many kinds of insects, Moths, Flies, Cutworms, Beetles, Lizards, Frogs and Scorpions. — The Burgess Animal Book for Children, Thornton W. (Thornton Waldo) Burgess
Away along in April I had not seen a cutworm, and I began to fear they had suffered, and perhaps perished, in the extreme cold of the previous winter. — Remarks, Bill Nye
"We keep out of the way as much as we can; we eat every kind of troublesome worm and insect,--the cutworm, canker-worm, tent caterpillar, army-worm, rose-beetle, and the common house-fly; we ask for no wages or food or care,--and what do we get in return? — The Ontario Readers: Third Book, Ontario. Department of Education

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