Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of several moths of the family Psychidae, the larvae and females of which inhabit fibrous cases constructed of silk with bits of leaves and other debris, especially Thyridopteryx ephemeraeformis, a pest of deciduous and evergreen trees.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The larva of a lepidopterous insect, Thyridopteryx ephemeræ-formis (Harris), common throughout the more northern part of the United States.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Zoöl.) One of several lepidopterous insects which construct, in the larval state, a baglike case which they carry about for protection. One species (Platœceticus Gloveri) feeds on the orange tree. See basket worm.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A member of the family Psychidae of the Lepidoptera.
  • noun proscribed Eastern tent caterpillar.
  • noun Fall webworm.

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

bag +‎ worm.

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Examples

  • The bagworm is a perennial insect pest of arborvitae, juniper, pine and many other evergreen species.

    The Daily News - News 2009

  • I was driving to the kids school Friday in a really good mood and i rounded this corner and i saw the sun shimmering down on the grass and i just thought "wow the world just glows, it is luminescent" and then i realized the sun was reflecting off of these silkworm threads that literally covered the grass, and a bagworm had completely surrounded this ginormous oak.

    Archive 2007-03-01 WENDEE HOLTCAMP 2007

  • I was driving to the kids school Friday in a really good mood and i rounded this corner and i saw the sun shimmering down on the grass and i just thought "wow the world just glows, it is luminescent" and then i realized the sun was reflecting off of these silkworm threads that literally covered the grass, and a bagworm had completely surrounded this ginormous oak.

    luminescence and loss WENDEE HOLTCAMP 2007

  • Eumeta fuscescens (Pepper bagworm) solanaceous crops

    Chapter 7 1993

  • An undetermined species of bagworm sometimes causes severe defoliation in Sabah, but trees quickly recover.

    Chapter 6 1983

  • A: After a homeowner first takes serious notice of a bagworm, they are not likely to confuse this insect with another living thing.

    The Daily News - News 2009

  • The spread of the bagworm is slow since adult females are unable to fly.

    The Daily News - News 2009

  • Ankeny residents have reported to the city an increasing population of the bagworm, a caterpillar that is a pest to trees.

    DesMoinesRegister.com - NEWS 2008

  • Sounding the arrival of the bagworm, Flickr user and aspiring helminthologist volcanojw recently spent a prolonged period observing and documenting the larva peeking out of its shell.

    DCist 2008

  • There’s also the agromyzid vegetable leafminer, the poinciana looper, the banana skipper, the Egyptian hibiscus mealybug, the chrysomelid cucumber beetle, several species of eumenid wasp, a nititulid beetle, a magarodid, a psyllid, a bagworm—even the names are strange.

    The Song of The Dodo David Quammen 2004

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