Emily Dickinson Lexicon

COL'E-OP-TER, or COL-E-OP'TE-RA, n. [Gr. κολεος, a sheath, and πτερον, a wing.]

The Coleopters, in Linnæus's system of entomology, are an order of insects, having crustaceous elytra or shells, which shut and form a longitudinal suture along the back, as the beetle.