Also -chaffer. [A compound of CHAFER or chaffer, beetle, app. of rustic origin; not in the dictionaries till quite recently. (Not in Craig, 1847.) Cock is probably prefixed to express size or valor, or in reference to the practice of making these insects fight. Another form is Jeffrey (= chaffer) Cock.]
A coleopterous insect or beetle (Melolontha vulgaris), well known in England and over Europe: it is a stout broad insect of comparatively large size and greyish chestnut color; it comes forth from the chrysalis towards the end of May (hence called Maybug), and flies with a loud whirring sound. Both the perfect insect and the larva are very destructive to vegetation.
[1691. Ray, N. C. Words, A Clock, a Beetle or Dor, a Hotchafer.]
1712. J. James, trans. Le Blond’s Gardening, 140, marg. These [May-Bugs] are by some called Chafers, or Cock-Chafers.
1770–4. A. Hunter, Georg. Ess. (1803), III. 99. There are few insects more prejudicial to the farmer than … the Cock-Chaffer.
1787. T. Best, Angling (ed. 2), 52. The line … baited with a cock shaver or grasshopper.
1859. W. S. Coleman, Woodlands, 14. The common Cockchafer … is often a terrible enemy to this tree [the Oak].
