seventeen-year locust

noun

: a cicada (Magicicada septendecim) of the U.S. that lives most of its life as a wingless underground nymph and emerges from the ground after seventeen years in the North and after thirteen years in the South to spend only a few weeks as a winged adult

Word History

First Known Use

1817, in the meaning defined above

Kids Definition

seventeen-year locust

noun

: a cicada of the U.S. with a life span of seventeen years in the North and of thirteen years in the South that spends only a few weeks as a winged adult and lives most of its life as a wingless underground nymph which feeds on roots