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Definition butterfly

Etymology

From Middle English buterflie, butturflye, boterflye, from Old English butorfl?oge, buttorfl?oge, buterfl?oge (from butere (“butter”)), equivalent to butter +‎ fly. Cognate with Dutch botervlieg, German Butterfliege (“butterfly”). The name may have originally been applied to butterflies of a yellowish color, and/or reflected a belief that butterflies ate milk and butter (compare German Molkendieb (“butterfly”, literally “whey thief”) and Low German Botterlicker (“butterfly”, literally “butter-licker”)), or that they excreted a butter-like substance (compare Dutch boterschijte (“butterfly”, literally “butter-shitter”)). Compare also German Schmetterling from Schmetten (“cream”), German Low German Bottervögel (“butterfly”, literally “butter-fowl”). More at butter, fly.

An alternate theory suggests that the first element may have originally been butor- (“beater”), a mutation of b?atan (“to beat”).

Noun

butterfly (plural butterflies)

1. A flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, distinguished from moths by their diurnal activity and generally brighter colouring. [from 11th c.]
2. A use of surgical tape, cut into thin strips and placed across an open wound to hold it closed.
3. (swimming) The butterfly stroke. [from 20th c.]
4. (in the plural) A sensation of excited anxiety felt in the stomach.
5. (now rare) Someone seen as being unserious and (originally) dressed gaudily; someone flighty and unreliable. [from 17th c.]

Verb

butterfly (third-person singular simple present butterflies, present participle butterflying, simple past and past participle butterflied)

1. (transitive) To cut (food) almost entirely in half and spread the halves apart, in a shape suggesting the wings of a butterfly.
2. (transitive) To cut strips of surgical tape or plasters into thin strips, and place across (a gaping wound) to close it.

Results 148 Words with the letters BUTTERFLY

You can also try words with the phrase BUTTERFLY, words starting with the letters BUTTERFLY, or words ending in the letters BUTTERFLY.

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