Katydid n. (Zool.) A large, green, arboreal, orthopterous insect (Cyrtophyllus concavus) of the family Locustidae, common in the United States. The males have stridulating organs at the bases of the front wings. During the summer and autumn, in the evening, the males make a peculiar, loud, shrill sound, resembling the combination Katy-did, whence the name.
... the same As when we two would sit With struggling breath beside the river. How slowly the moon came Above the hill; how wet With shaking silver she arose Above the hill. Now in the sultry garden close I hear the katydid Strumming his foolish mandolin. The wind is lying still, And suddenly amid The trembling boughs the moon expands into a ... — The Five Books of Youth • Robert Hillyer
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