witchety grub
nounEtymology From witchety + grub, a partial calque of some Pama-Nyungan language (compare Arabana mako witjuti (“witchety grub”, from mako (“grub”) + witjuti (“witchety bush”))).
1
Australia The large, white, wood-eating larvae of several moths and beetles, especially the species Endoxyla leucomochla, traditionally eaten by Aboriginals in the Australian desert.
- I'll think of how the kids come alive walking around sandplains / reading tracks, looking for goannas, digging up witchetty grubs / collecting berries, branches of bush medicines.2022, Meg Mooney, Northern Territory Literary Awards, page 33: