'Tent caterpillar' definitions:

Definition of 'tent caterpillar'

(from WordNet)
noun
The larvae of moths that build and live in communal silken webs in orchard and shade trees

Definition of 'Tent caterpillar'

From: GCIDE
  • Tent \Tent\, n. [OE. tente, F. tente, LL. tenta, fr. L. tendere, tentum, to stretch. See Tend to move, and cf. Tent a roll of lint.]
  • 1. A pavilion or portable lodge consisting of skins, canvas, or some strong cloth, stretched and sustained by poles, -- used for sheltering persons from the weather, especially soldiers in camp. [1913 Webster]
  • Within his tent, large as is a barn. --Chaucer. [1913 Webster]
  • 2. (Her.) The representation of a tent used as a bearing. [1913 Webster]
  • Tent bed, a high-post bedstead curtained with a tentlike canopy.
  • Tent caterpillar (Zool.), any one of several species of gregarious caterpillars which construct on trees large silken webs into which they retreat when at rest. Some of the species are very destructive to fruit trees. The most common American species is the larva of a bombycid moth (Clisiocampa Americana). Called also {lackery caterpillar}, and webworm. [1913 Webster]

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