ro·ly-po·ly
(rṓlē-pṓlē)
[Alteration and reduplication of roll.]
adjective
- Short and plump; pudgy.
noun: pl., -lies.
- A short plump person or thing.
- Chiefly British A pudding made of jam or fruit rolled up in pastry dough and baked or steamed until soft.
- See pill bug
pill bug
noun
- A small terrestrial isopod crustacean of the genus Armadillidium closely related to the sow bug and having a convex, segmented, flexible body enabling it to curl into a ball when disturbed. Also called In this sense also called roly-poly
- A sow bug.
usage note
Usage Note: Many people, especially science teachers, like to make a distinction between pill bugs and sow bugs. According to this usage, a pill bug, or roly-poly, is a terrestrial isopod crustacean whose segmented body gives it the ability to curl up into a ball when disturbed. A sow bug is any of several similar looking creatures that lack this ability. In popular usage, however, the names pill bug and sow bug, along with a number of other popular names, are used to refer to any of these tiny segmented crustaceans that are often mistaken for insects.
