Caterpillar - Hairy Cats & Leaf Attacks

A rather dashing caterpillar indeed
(photo by Tinkerbrad)

 CATERPILLAR

Noun. Late Middle English.

[Perhaps from Anglo-Norman variant of Old French chatepelose literally 'hairy cat', influenced by obsolete PILLER 'ravager'.]

1 The larva of a butterfly or moth;

loosely any of the similar larvae of various insects. LME

2 figurative. A rapacious person; one who preys on society. Now rare or obsolete. M16

3 singular & (usually) in plural. Any of several Mediterranean plants of the leguminous genus Scorpiurus,

with spirally curved pods. Also caterpillar plant. L16

4 (Also capitalised as Caterpillar) (Proprietary name for) a vehicle with an endless articulated steel band

(Caterpillar track, Caterpillar tread, etc.) passing round and worked by two wheels, for travelling on rough ground. E20

As well as being voracious eaters, caterpillars are voracious readers too
(photo by John Proctor)

Caterpillar - probably from Old French chatepelose which means 'hairy cat'. Granted, some caterpillars are jolly hairy, but one wonders if the numbnuts that named them had ever actually seen a cat. Or a caterpillar. Bizarrely, this catty comparison exists in other languages too - in Swiss German a caterpillar is a Teufelskatz, which literally means 'devil's cat'.

Oh, hang on a second ... if I really squint ... and look at it when it's kind of dark ... no ... nope ... definitely not. I'm sorry, but a caterpillar looks absolutely nothing like a cat. Still, catlike or not (and they're not), caterpillars do metamorphose into breathtakingly beautiful butterflies, one of the most miraculous and awe-inspiring transformations in the natural world, so one can't hold too much against them (but, seriously, be careful about holding them, as they're often poisonous).

Oh here's one that looks like a cat! Oh no wait. It doesn't. At all.
(photo by Mike Baird)

What's 'caterpillar' in your language? 

Can you see the hairy cat?

Do please cater your pillar in the comment box below.