Bee"tle (?), n. [OE. betel, AS. bitl, btl, mallet, hammer, fr. betan to beat. See Beat, v. t.]
1.
A heavy mallet, used to drive wedges, beat pavements, etc.
2.
A machine in which fabrics are subjected to a hammering process while passing over rollers, as in cotton mills; -- called also beetling machine.
Knight.
© Webster 1913.
Bee"tle (?), v. t. [imp. & p. p. Beetled (#); p. pr. & vb. n. Beetling.]
1.
To beat with a heavy mallet.
2.
To finish by subjecting to a hammering process in a beetle or beetling machine; as, to beetle cotton goods.
© Webster 1913.
Bee"tle, n. [OE. bityl, bittle, AS. btel, fr. btan to bite. See Bite, v. t.]
Any insect of the order Coleoptera, having four wings, the outer pair being stiff cases for covering the others when they are folded up. See Coleoptera.
Beetle mite Zool., one of many species of mites, of the family Oribatidae, parasitic on beetles. -- Black beetle, the common large black cockroach (Blatta orientalis).
© Webster 1913.
Bee"tle, v. i. [See Beetlebrowed.]
To extend over and beyond the base or support; to overhang; to jut.
To the dreadful summit of the cliff
That beetles o'er his base into the sea.
Shak.
Each beetling rampart, and each tower sublime.
Wordsworth.
© Webster 1913.