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# woodlouse

«woodlouse» in Mova's school dictionary: **a small grey animal with a hard, jointed shell and…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples.

### part of speech

noun (a woodlouse, woodlice)

### meaning for a pupil

1) A woodlouse is a small grey animal with a hard, jointed shell and fourteen legs that lives in damp, dark places like under stones, logs and leaves. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/woodlouse/#m1)

2) Some kinds can roll up into a ball when in danger (pill bugs). [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/woodlouse/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In science woodlice appear in minibeast hunts, habitats and «choice chamber» experiments, which show that they prefer damp and dark places. They are decomposers: they eat dead leaves and wood and help recycle nutrients. They are crustaceans, related to crabs, not insects. Phrases: «minibeast», «pill bug», «roly-poly» (US), «slater» (Australia, NZ, Scotland).

### examples

- We found woodlice under the log. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/woodlouse/#x1)
- A woodlouse rolled into a ball when I touched it. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/woodlouse/#x2)
- Woodlice like damp, dark places. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/woodlouse/#x3)
- In our experiment, most woodlice moved to the wet side. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/woodlouse/#x4)
- Woodlice eat rotting leaves and wood. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/woodlouse/#x5)
- A woodlouse has fourteen legs. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/woodlouse/#x6)
- Put the woodlice back where you found them. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/woodlouse/#x7)
- In Australia, a woodlouse is called a slater. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/woodlouse/#x8)

### note

Irregular plural: «woodlice» (like «louse, lice»). It is not an insect (insects have 6 legs); it is a crustacean. Many regional names: pill bug, roly-poly, slater, sow bug.

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «woodlouse» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/W/woodlouse/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.