ˈpasələs noun
Etymology: New Latin, from Greek passalos peg; akin to Greek pēssein to fix, fasten, pēgnynai to fix, fasten — more at pact
1. capitalized : the type genus of the family Passalidae
2. -es : any beetle of Passalus or a related genus ; especially : a flat shiny black gregarious bess-bug ( Popilius disjunctus ) of the southern U.S. — called also horned passalus