(Heb. yelek), "the licking locust," which licks up the grass of the field; probably the locust at a certain stage of its growth, just as it emerges from the caterpillar state ( Joel 1:4 ; 2:25 ). The word is rendered "caterpillar" in Psalms 105:34 ; Jer 51:14,17(but RSV "canker-worm"). "It spoileth and fleeth away" ( Nahum 3:16 ), or as some read the passage, "The cankerworm putteth off [i.e., the envelope of its wings], and fleeth away."

These dictionary topics are from
M.G. Easton M.A., D.D., Illustrated Bible Dictionary, Third Edition,
published by Thomas Nelson, 1897. Public Domain, copy freely.