From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishlocustlo‧cust /ˈləʊkəst $ ˈloʊ-/ noun [countable] HBIan insect that lives mainly in Asia and Africa and flies in a very large group, eating and destroying crops a swarm of locusts
Examples from the Corpus
locust• Perhaps nets were hung over windows and doorways in the temples to keep out birds, and possibly dragon-flies and locusts.• Growing close to the house was a gnarled locust tree.• They resembled a horde of human locusts.• Swarms of locusts have been reported in 15 provinces.• Churchill's biographer refers to the years before the Second World War as the locust years.• I first saw it in the locust on the dry ridges, about twenty years ago.• Control has often centred on powerful organochlorine pesticides, which kill the locusts but can then damage the environment.• The yellow locust is another matter entirely.Origin locust (1300-1400) Latin locusta “lobster or similar animal” 