Austral. [Native name.] The larva of some species of longicorn beetles, eaten as a food by Australian natives. Also attrib.
1891. Stirling, in Trans. Roy. Soc. South Australia, XIV. 158. They did, however, eat one ‘witchety,’ the native name of large white grubs, much relished by the blacks as an article of food.
1894. R. Lydekker, Marsupialia, 191. The Marsupial Mole … was fed on the ‘witchetty.’
1910. J. F. Frazer, in N.-Y. Tribune, 27 Feb., V. 3/6 When the ‘witchetty grub’ men want to increase the supply of their grub they march, under the leadership of their head man, to a certain sacred spot, each man carrying twigs of the grub’s favorite bush.
