boll weevil

English
boll weevil beetle (sense 1) on a cotton boll

Noun

boll weevil (plural boll weevils)

  1. A beetle (Anthonomus grandis) measuring an average length of six millimeters (¼ inch), which feeds on cotton buds and flowers, native to Central America.
  2. (US politics, informal, dated) A conservative Southern Democrat.
    • 2019, Richard Carr, quoting John Chamberlain, March of the Moderates […] ‎, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN:
      As the veteran columnist John Chamberlain put it back in 1982, the ATARI Democrats ‘include many of the Southern “boll weevil” contingent that has supported Reagan on taxes, [and][sic] is for using government to channel investment money to the newer “high tech” industries.

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