cutworm
nounEtymology From cut + worm, from the habit of eating through the stem of plants, or possibly from cutty (“short”).
1
The larva of any of the many moths of the family Noctuidae, considered an agricultural pest.
- I listened while they discussed putting stove ash at the base of tomato plants to keep off cutworms or Mama bragged on how fast I was learning to read.2013, Robin Wall Kimmerer, Braiding Sweetgrass, 1st edition, Milkweed Editions, →ISBN, page 74:
- Derived terms
- army cutworm, cutworm moth, pale western cutworm