Also 5 cicade, 9 (poet.) cicad. [L. cicāda.] A homopterous insect with large transparent wings, living on trees or shrubs; the male is noted for its power of making a shrill chirping sound, much appreciated by the ancient Greeks and Romans.
Nearly all the species are inhabitants of tropical or the warmer temperate regions. Only one small species has been found (in the New Forest) in England. Called by the Greeks τέττιξ, which, like cicada and cigale, is often erroneously rendered ‘grasshopper.’
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 317. Þere beeþ also cicade bryddes þat syngeþ at þe beste, and haueþ a pipe open vnder þe þrote.
1813. Bingley, Anim. Biog., III. 177. The American Locust. This species of Cicada is at all times very common in Pennsylvania.
1819. G. Samouelle, Entomol. Compend., 229. Cicada.… The only species known to inhabit this country was lately discovered by Mr. Daniel Bydder, near the New Forest in Hampshire.
1820. T. Mitchell, Aristoph., I. 285. He deigns in his hair The cicada to wear.
1851. Mayne Reid, Scalp Hunt., i. The tree-frog and cicada are silent.
1855. Singleton, Virgil, I. 164. With their chirp The plaintful cicads shall the vine-trees rend.
1866. A. J. C. Hare, in Cornh. Mag., Nov., 538. Under olive boughs in which cicadas sing.
