a member of the moth family, particularly of the genus Agrotis, whose soil-inhabiting larvae feed on roots of various plants including trees, sometimes on the foliage, or on seedling stems at ground level through which they frequently cut —note many species of cutworms are serious agricultural pests, but serious problems to trees are usually limited to nurseries, young conifer plantations, and young ornamental plantings —synonym army worm This definition last updated 07/29/2008