[L.; see LOCUST sb.]
† 1. A locust. Obs.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxxvi. (Baptista), 281. Wyld hony wes his lyflede, & a thinge callit locusta.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. II. 5. Sum men seien þat locusta is a litil beest good to ete.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., XII. xxv. (1495), 429. Locusta hathe that name for he hath longe legges is the shafte of a spere.
2. Bot. The spikelet of grasses. See also quot. 1727–41.
1727–41. Chambers, Cycl., Locustæ, is used by botanists for the tender extremities of the branches of trees; such as, it is supposed, John the Baptist fed on in the wilderness…. Some also used locustæ for the beards, and pendulous seeds, of oats, and of the gramina paniculata; to which the name is given on account of their figure, which something resembles that of a locust.
1830. Lindley, Nat. Syst. Bot., 292. Flowers [of the Grass tribe] in little spikes called locustæ.
1861. Bentley, Man. Bot., 192. The partial inflorescence of a Grass, which is termed a locusta or spikelet.
