butterfly
Listen:Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
butterfly/ˈbʌtəflʌɪ/
▶noun (pl. butterflies)
- 1 any of a large group of nectar-feeding lepidopterous insects with two pairs of large, typically colourful wings, distinguished from moths by having clubbed or dilated antennae, holding their wings erect when at rest, and being active by day.
- 2 [as modifier] having a two-lobed shape resembling the spread wings of a butterfly: a butterfly clip.
- 3 a showy or frivolous person: a social butterfly.
- 4 (butterflies) informal a fluttering and nauseous sensation felt in the stomach when one is nervous.
- 5 a stroke in swimming in which both arms are raised out of the water and lifted forwards together.
– origin OE: perh. from the cream or yellow colour of common species, or from a former belief that the insects stole butter.
'butterfly' also found in these Oxford entries:
Adonis blue
- alpine
- apollo
- Arctic
- argus
- birdwing
- brimstone
- buckeye
- buddleia
- butterfly bush
- butterfly effect
- butterfly fish
- butterfly knife
- butterfly nut
- butterfly valve
- cabbage white
- Camberwell beauty
- caterpillar
- chrysalis
- clouded yellow
- comma
- copper
- cremaster
- dryad
- eyespot
- farfalle
- fritillary
- gatekeeper
- grayling
- hairstreak
- marbled white
- meadow brown
- milkweed
- monarch
- morpho
- owl butterfly
- painted lady
- papillon
- pavilion
- peacock butterfly
- pteropod
- purple emperor
- red admiral
- resident
- ringlet
- satyr
- sea butterfly
- skipper
- small heath
