Cankerworm (Heb. yelek), "the licking locust," which licks up the grass of the field; probably the locust at a certain stage of its growth, just as it emerges from the caterpillar state (Joel 1:4; Joel 1:2). The word is rendered "caterpillar" in Psalms 105:34; Jeremiah 51:14, Jeremiah 1:51 (but R.V. "canker-worm"). "It spoileth and fleeth away" (Nahum 3:16), or as some read the passage, "The cankerworm putteth off [i.e., the envelope of its wings], and fleeth away."