dial. [Of uncertain origin: possibly a corruption of L. brūcus, brūchus: see BRUKE. The two senses may have no connection.]
† 1. ? = L. ophiomachus (Vulg. Lev. xi. 22), a kind of locust: cf. BRUKE. Only OE.
c. 1050. Ags. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 460. Ophiomachus, broc.
2. The larva of the frog-hopper, which produces the cuckoo-spit; also the insect itself. mod. dial.
1788. Marshall, E. Yorks. (E.D.S.), Brock, a young grasshopper [2nd ed. 1796 substitutes ‘cicada spumaria, the cuckowspit insect’]. ‘He sweats like a brock!’
1875. Robinson, Whitby Gloss. (E. D. S.), Brock, the cuckoo-spit, ‘sweating insect,’ or frog-hopper, the ‘cicada spumata,’ found upon leaves in an immersion of froth.
1877. in Holderness Gloss. (E. D. S.).
