grasshopper

/ˌgræsˈhɑpər/

/ˈgrɑshɒpə/

Other forms: grasshoppers

Grasshoppers are chirping insects that hop. A grasshopper can use its long legs to leap up to 20 times its own body length — that's pretty impressive for a bug!

Grasshoppers are related to crickets and katydids. The origin of the word grasshopper is instantly clear once you see a grassy field full of these leaping insects. The insects "chirp" by rubbing their legs against their wings. In some parts of the world, grasshoppers are eaten by humans, and they are often viewed as pests because of their appetite for grains. Swarms of grasshoppers have at various times been responsible for the destruction of entire fields of crops.

Definitions of grasshopper

1. noun

   terrestrial plant-eating insect with hind legs adapted for leaping
   synonyms: hopper

   types:

   acridid, short-horned grasshopper

   grasshopper with short antennae

   long-horned grasshopper, tettigoniid

   grasshoppers with long threadlike antennae and well-developed stridulating organs on the forewings of the male

   locust

   migratory grasshoppers of warm regions having short antennae

   katydid

   large green long-horned grasshopper of North America; males produce shrill sounds by rubbing together special organs on the forewings

   Jerusalem cricket, Stenopelmatus fuscus, sand cricket

   large wingless nocturnal grasshopper that burrows in loose soil along the Pacific coast of the United States

   type of:

   orthopteran, orthopteron, orthopterous insect

   any of various insects having leathery forewings and membranous hind wings and chewing mouthparts
2. noun

   a cocktail made of creme de menthe and cream (sometimes with creme de cacao)
   type of:

   cocktail

   a short mixed drink