tent caterpillar

1. 1.

   the larvae of moths that build and live in communal silken webs in orchard and shade trees

   Broadercaterpillar

   Narrowerforest tent caterpillar

   Part ofMalacosoma

Questions about tent caterpillar

What does tent caterpillar mean?

tent caterpillar means "the larvae of moths that build and live in communal silken webs in orchard and shade trees".

Is tent caterpillar a common word?

tent caterpillar is banded "Rare" — specialist or archaic — most readers will not have met it. The band comes from how often the word appears in a large corpus of everyday English, not from an editor's impression.