gravedigger

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   a person employed to dig graves and prepare them for burial

   The gravedigger finished preparing the grave before the mourners arrived.

2. 2
   noun

   a burying beetle that buries small animal carcasses as food for its larvae

   The gravedigger carried mites on its body as it crawled beneath the carcass.

A transparent compound of grave + digger. The insect sense arose from the burying beetle's habit of digging beneath small carcasses and covering them with earth.

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