troglodyte Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun one who lives in solitude
    solitary; recluse; solitudinarian; hermit.
  2. noun someone who lives in a cave
    caveman; cave dweller; cave man.

WordNet

Trog"lo*dyte noun
Etymology
L. troglodytae, pl., Gr. one who creeps into holes; a hole, cavern (fr. to gnaw) + enter: cf. F. troglodyte.
Definitions
  1. (Ethnol.) One of any savage race that dwells in caves, instead of constructing dwellings; a cave dweller. Most of the primitive races of man were troglodytes.
    In the troglodytes' country there is a lake, for the hurtful water it beareth called the "mad lake." Holland.
  2. (Zoöl.) An anthropoid ape, as the chimpanzee.
  3. (Zoöl.) The wren.

Webster 1913