Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A beating with a beetle.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb Present participle of
beetle .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective jutting or overhanging
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
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Examples
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I don't know what the word beetling means, but if it means anything bad, I will certainly apply it to that pali.
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I don’t know what the word beetling means, but if it means anything bad, I will certainly apply it to that pali.
The Hawaiian Archipelago Isabella Lucy 2004
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As for the Irish, they came to America as “ferocious gorilla-like living specimens of the Neanderthal man . . . easily recognized by the great upper lip, bridgeless nose, beetling brow and low growing hair, and wild and savage aspect.”
A Renegade History of the United States Thaddeus Russell 2010
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Father scowled at her anyway, his thick black eyebrows beetling together.
Uprising Margaret Peterson Haddix 2011
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He saw the lights of cars beetling their way through the night in numberless, rushing caravans bringing his countrymen to homes and families and jobs on the third shift and the promise of a new start in some other well-lit town that would replace the one that had disappointed.
O: A Presidential Novel Anonymous 2011
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He saw the lights of cars beetling their way through the night in numberless, rushing caravans bringing his countrymen to homes and families and jobs on the third shift and the promise of a new start in some other well-lit town that would replace the one that had disappointed.
O: A Presidential Novel Anonymous 2011
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He saw the lights of cars beetling their way through the night in numberless, rushing caravans bringing his countrymen to homes and families and jobs on the third shift and the promise of a new start in some other well-lit town that would replace the one that had disappointed.
O: A Presidential Novel Anonymous 2011
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Father scowled at her anyway, his thick black eyebrows beetling together.
Uprising Margaret Peterson Haddix 2011
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He saw the lights of cars beetling their way through the night in numberless, rushing caravans bringing his countrymen to homes and families and jobs on the third shift and the promise of a new start in some other well-lit town that would replace the one that had disappointed.
O: A Presidential Novel Anonymous 2011
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Father scowled at her anyway, his thick black eyebrows beetling together.
Uprising Margaret Peterson Haddix 2011
milosrdenstvi commented on the word beetling
The most common form of beetle as verb. Which is pretty cool.
May 1, 2009
bilby commented on the word beetling
"Beetling is a process applied to linen, and cotton fabrics made to resemble linen, to produce a hard, flat surface with high lustre and to make the texture less porous; the fabric is dampened and pounded with heavy wooden mallets."
- source (and partial photo of beetling machine) at the bottom of this page.
June 27, 2009
glypheme commented on the word beetling
My mom and I used this word to describe the funny way my dog used to walk: sort of a clipped, bouncy lope. This isn't the first neologism to come out of our family.
March 22, 2014
mollusque commented on the word beetling
You're in good company using it in a locomotory sense:
"Mr. Jasinski was believably old, with a beetling walk and mannerisms that made Dr. Coppelius something between the unusual poles of tragic eccentric and lovable codger."
---New York Times, 30 October 1989
March 22, 2014
vendingmachine commented on the word beetling
For the study and collection of beetles, see coleopterology.
Beetling is the pounding of linen or cotton fabric to give a flat, lustrous effect. The process by which fabrics, etc. are beetled, or beaten with a mallet. Within Ireland, beetling was first introduced by Hamilton Maxwell in 1725. Beetling is part of the finishing of the linen cloth. The hammering tightens the weave and gives the cloth a smooth feel. The process was gradually phased out, in lieu of calendering. A similarity is the compression; however, with calendering, the finish does not remain for the life of the cloth. This distinguishes it from beetling.
Beetling eyebrows are thick and stick out from the face: He glared at me under beetling brows.
September 5, 2018