grasshopper
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈɡɹɑːsˌhɒpə(ɹ)/
ipa: /ɡɹæsˌhɒpə(ɹ)/
ipa: /ˈɡɹæsˌhɑpəɹ/
Forms: form: grasshoppers
Etymology: From Middle English grashoppere, alteration of earlier grashoppe, from Old English græshoppa (“grasshopper”). Equivalent to grass + hopper. Cognate with Saterland Frisian Gäärshupper, Dutch grashupper, grashipper, German Low German Grashüpper, Gresshüpper, German Grashüpfer, Danish græshoppe, Swedish gräshoppa, Norwegian gresshoppe.
Senses: examples: text: Even in my happiest moments, while the grass was crowded with flowers beneath me—the sweet monotony of the running water in mine ear, only broken by the cheerful chant of the grasshopper—the boughs of the chestnut, filled with sunshine, dazzling my eyes, till the golden air seemed thronged with lovely shapes,—even then came pale and mournful shadows, whose white faces looked upon me pityingly.
ref: 1834, L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XVI, in Francesca Carrara. […], volume I, London: Richard Bentley, […], (successor to Henry Colburn), →OCLC, page 168:
text: But it is as a destroyer of grasshoppers that the dickcissel excels.
ref: 1901, Sylvester D. Judd, The Relation of Sparrows to Agriculture, page 91:
synonyms: grasshop
glosses: A mostly herbivorous insect of the order Orthoptera, noted for its ability to jump long distances and for the habit of some species communicating by stridulation; they are related to but distinct from crickets.
synonyms: grasshop
glosses: A mostly herbivorous insect of the order Orthoptera, noted for its ability to jump long distances and for the habit of some species communicating by stridulation; they are related to but distinct from crickets.
In the strict sense, refers to insects in the suborder Caelifera, particularly those in the family Acrididae.
synonyms: grasshop
glosses: A mostly herbivorous insect of the order Orthoptera, noted for its ability to jump long distances and for the habit of some species communicating by stridulation; they are related to but distinct from crickets.
In a looser sense, also includes the katydids (also known as longhorned grasshoppers or bush crickets), which are members of the family Tettigoniidae, of the suborder Ensifera.
examples: text: Does he order Scotch-on-the-rocks in a low, mean voice? No? A Bud? No? A grasshopper, heavy on the creme de menthe? Right!
ref: 1979 April 21, Greg Jackson, “He Looks Like Tarzan But He Talks Like Jane”, in Gay Community News, page 17:
glosses: A cocktail made with crème de menthe and optionally with crème de cacao.
examples: text: Although we don't know exactly why Li is chosen to dance, we witness a man assuring officials that the child isn't from bourgeois stock. Phew. There are no known landowners in the family, so the grasshopper passes some cultural purity test, in a state often fixated on class warfare, driven by the cult of personality, and bullied by paranoia.
ref: 2009, B.P. Terpstra, Quadrant, November 2009, No. 461 (Volume LIII, Number 11), Quadrant Magazine Limited, page 2
glosses: A young student in the initial stages of training who has been chosen on account of their obvious talent.
topics: drugs
medicine
pharmacology
sciences
glosses: A frequent user of marijuana.
examples: text: John Geib […]patented the hopper with two separate escapements, one of which soon became adopted in the grasshopper of the square piano
ref: 1894, “Pianoforte”, in Encyclopædia_Britannica:
topics: entertainment
lifestyle
music
synonyms: hopper
glosses: In ordinary square or upright pianos of London make, the escapement lever or jack, so made that it can be taken out and replaced with the key.
Derived terms: admirable grasshopper
American bird grasshopper
bird grasshopper
blue-winged grasshopper
differential grasshopper
grasshopperdom
grasshopper engine
Grasshopper Falls
grasshopper green
grasshopperish
grasshopperlike
grasshopper lobster
grasshopper mouse
grasshopper pie
Grasshopper Pueblo
grasshopper warbler
green grasshopper
knee-high to a grasshopper
knee high to a grasshopper
long-horned grasshopper
migratory grasshopper
Pallas's grasshopper warbler
short-horned grasshopper
spur-throated grasshopper
three-banded grasshopper
trail ridge scrub grasshopper
two-striped grasshopper
Related terms: grasshop