Definition of "dumbledore"

Those slopes of fresh turf, embroidered with every minute blossom of the moor — thyme, birdsfoot, eyebright, and dwarf purple thistle, buzzed and hummed over by busy, black-tailed, yellow-banded dumbledores.

1875, Charlotte M Yonge, The Daisy Chain

A shaded lamp and a waving blind, / And the beat of a clock from a distant floor: / On this scene enter – winged, horned, and spined – / A longlegs, a moth, and a dumbledore —

1899, Thomas Hardy, An August Midnight

Now and then a dumbledore or ‘busy bee’ as they are called by some, propelled itself across our path, they being extremely large and heavy this year.

1970 May 21, Evening Telegram, page 3

A dumbledore, lured from the plantation, lies on its back, leaping and churning upon Seth’s bright pages.

1987, Seán Virgo, Selakhi, Exile Editions, Ltd., page 20

others may need to be informd that a blastnashun straddlebob is a dumbledore, that is to say, a polyonymous lamellicorn coleopter, cald also a dorbeetle, a dorbug, a maybeetle, a maybug, a cockchafer, a Melolontha vulgaris.

1964, American Philological Association, “Transactions of the American Philological Association”, in (Please provide the book title or journal name), Ginn & Co., page 267

The Dandelion has a number of common names in Newfoundland. These include Dumbledore, Faceclock, and Piss-a-beds.

1975, Peter J. Scott, Edible Fruits and Herbs of Newfoundland, St. John’s, Memorial University Oxen Pond Botanical Park, page 39

“Miserable dumbledores!” / “Right, William, and so they be—miserable dumbledores!” said the choir with unanimity.

1872, [Thomas Hardy], chapter 4, in Under the Greenwood Tree: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School, volumes (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Tinsley Brothers, (please specify |part=I to V)