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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)
- A flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, distinguished from moths by their diurnal activity and generally brighter colouring. [from 11th c.]
- A use of surgical tape, cut into thin strips and placed across an open wound to hold it closed.
- (swimming) The butterfly stroke. [from 20th c.]
- (in the plural) A sensation of excited anxiety felt in the stomach.
- (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)
- (transitive) To cut (food) almost entirely in half and spread the halves apart, in a shape suggesting the wings of a butterfly.
- (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
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