Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The hairy caterpillar of any of various tiger moths, especially that of Pyrrharctia isabella of North America, which has a body that is reddish-brown in the middle and black at the ends.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun The
larva of amoth of thefamily Arctiidae.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun caterpillar of numerous moths characterized by a dense coat of woolly hairs; feed on plants and some are destructive pests
Etymologies
Sorry, no etymologies found.
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word woolly bear.
Examples
Sorry, no example sentences found.
treeseed commented on the word woolly bear
The true woolly bear, sometimes called woolly worm, is the caterpillar stage of the Isabella tiger moth, Pyrrharctia isabella.
This moth is found throughout the United States and in parts of Canada and Mexico.
_milkweedcafe.com
February 4, 2008
treeseed commented on the word woolly bear
During late Summer and early Fall we often see Woolly Bear caterpillars crossing the road...not sure why they do this.
February 4, 2008