Any one of numerous species of snout beetles, or Rhynchophora, in which the head is elongated and usually curved downward. Many of the species are very injurious to cultivated plants. The larvæ of some of the species live in nuts, fruit, and grain by eating out the interior, as the plum weevil, or curculio, the nut weevils, and the grain weevil (see under
Plum,
Nut, and
Grain). The larvæ of other species bore under the bark and into the pith of trees and various other plants, as the pine weevils (see under
Pine). See also
Pea weevil,
Rice weevil,
Seed weevil, under
Pea,
Rice, and
Seed. [
1913 Webster]