butterfly
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈbʌ.tə(ɹ).flaɪ/
ipa: [ˈbʌ.ɾɚ.flaɪ]
ipa: [ˈbʌ.tə.flaɪ]
Forms: form: butterflies
Etymology: From Middle English buterflie, butturflye, boterflye, from Old English buterflēoge, equivalent to butter + fly. Cognate with Dutch botervlieg, German Butterfliege (“butterfly”). The name may have originally been applied to butterflies of a yellowish color, 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-excretor”)). 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 Old English butor- (“beater”), a mutation of bēatan (“to beat”), but this would not explain the cognates in other languages or the other names formed with milk products.
Superseded non-native Middle English papilion (“butterfly”) borrowed from Old French papillon (“butterfly”).
Senses: examples: text: It is true. I am like a butterfly, and I shall only live a little while.
ref: a. 1931 (date written), D[avid] H[erbert] Lawrence, “[Personalia and Fragments.] [Autobiographical Fragment].”, in Edward D[avid] McDonald, editor, Phoenix: The Posthumous Papers of D. H. Lawrence, London: William Heinemann, published 1936, →OCLC, page 836:
glosses: A flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, distinguished from moths by their diurnal activity and generally brighter colouring.
examples: text: butterfly tape; butterfly bandage; butterfly strips
topics: medicine
sciences
glosses: A use of surgical tape, cut into thin strips and placed across an open wound to hold it closed.
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
swimming
glosses: The butterfly stroke.
glosses: Any of several plane curves that look like a butterfly; see Butterfly curve (transcendental) and Butterfly curve (algebraic).
examples: text: I get terrible butterflies before an exam.
glosses: Ellipsis of butterflies in one’s stomach (“A sensation of excited anxiety felt in the stomach”).
examples: text: He was affable; therefore he was frivolous. The women liked him; therefore he was a butterfly.
ref: 1859, George Meredith, chapter 15, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLC:
text: The day came indeed when her breathless auditors learnt from her in bewilderment that what ailed him was that he was, alas, simply not serious. Maisie wept on Mrs. Wix's bosom after hearing that Sir Claude was a butterfly[…].
ref: 1897, Henry James, What Maisie Knew:
glosses: Someone seen as being unserious and (originally) dressed gaudily; someone flighty and unreliable.
topics: business
finance
glosses: A combination of four options of the same type at three strike prices giving limited profit and limited risk.
examples: text: One potential butterfly could be JFK having another son the year after the POD instead of a daughter.
qualifier: alternate history
glosses: A random change in an aspect of the timeline seemingly unrelated to the primary point of divergence, resulting from the butterfly effect.
topics: hobbies
lifestyle
sports
glosses: A type of stretch in which one sits on the ground with the legs folded into a shape like that of a butterfly's wings, slightly rocking them up and down, resembling the wings fluttering.
examples: text: What does it mean to be a butterfly in Pattaya? It means, just like a butterfly briefly visits many flowers, you will briefly visit many different girls.
ref: 2022 December 9, Darren C, “Paying For Bar Girls, Sex in Pattaya”, in Pattaya Unlimited:
glosses: A person who changes partners frequently.
topics: business
mining
glosses: A safety link or detaching hook above the cage attached to the winding rope to prevent the cage from being overwound.
topics: government
politics
glosses: party switcher; turncoat.
Synonyms: sense: flying insect
word: lep
Hypernyms: sense: flying insect
word: pollinator
Derived terms: word: alfalfa butterfly
word: alpine butterfly bend
word: alpine butterfly knot
word: apefly
word: break a butterfly on a wheel
word: break a butterfly on the wheel
word: break a butterfly upon a wheel
word: break a butterfly upon the wheel
word: brush-footed butterfly
word: butterflier
word: butterflies in one's stomach
word: butterfly adder
taxonomic: Agave potatorum
word: butterfly agave
word: butterfly app
word: butterfly ballot
word: butterfly banners
taxonomic: Glauconycteris variegata
word: butterfly bat
word: butterfly bend
word: butterfly blenny
word: butterfly bomb
alt: see buddleia or buddleja
word: butterfly bush
word: butterfly cake
word: butterfly chair
word: butterfly child
alt: Ellipsaria lineolata
word: butterfly clam
word: butterfly clip
taxonomic: Pterois spp.
word: butterfly cod
alt: see lepidopterist or lepidopterology
word: butterfly collector
word: butterfly connector
taxonomic: Cryptolithodes typicus
word: butterfly crab
word: butterfly dam
word: butterfly damper
word: butterfly door
word: butterfly effect
word: butterflyfish
word: butterfly fish
alt: see schizanthus
word: butterfly flower
word: butterfly ginger
word: butterfly grip
word: butterfly hinge
word: butterfly keyboard
word: butterfly kick
word: butterfly kiss
word: butterfly knife
word: butterfly knot
word: butterfly-knotted
word: butterflylike
taxonomic: Hedychium coronarium
word: butterfly lily
word: butterfly loop
taxonomic: Asclepias tuberosa
word: butterfly milkweed
word: butterfly mine
word: butterfly mussel
word: butterfly needle
word: butterfly net
english: wing nut
translation: wing nut
word: butterfly nut
word: butterfly orchid
word: butterfly pea
taxonomic: Carallia brachiata
word: butterfly plant
word: butterfly position
english: Gymnuridae
translation: Gymnuridae
word: butterfly ray
word: butterfly roof
word: butterfly screw
english: Mucrospirifer spp., Chiton spp.
translation: Mucrospirifer spp., Chiton spp.
word: butterfly shell
word: butterfly skin
word: butterfly sleeve
word: butterfly stitch
topics: swimming
sports
hobbies
lifestyle
word: butterfly stroke
word: butterfly syringe
word: butterfly table
taxonomic: Calochortus vestae
word: butterfly tulip
word: butterfly upon a wheel
word: butterfly valve
word: butterfly watching
taxonomic: Asclepias tuberosa
word: butterfly weed
word: butterfly window
taxonomic: Pieris brassicae
word: cabbage butterfly
word: California dogface butterfly
word: comma butterfly
word: emperor butterfly
word: float like a butterfly
word: gossamer-winged butterfly
word: harvester butterfly
word: iron butterfly
taxonomic: Papilio demoleus
word: lime butterfly
word: map butterfly
word: milkweed butterfly
word: monarch butterfly
word: moth butterfly
word: nettle tree butterfly
word: owl butterfly
word: paper kite butterfly
word: peacock butterfly
word: sea butterfly
word: semicolon butterfly
word: snout butterfly
word: social butterfly
word: spinal butterfly ray
word: sulfur butterfly
word: sulphur butterfly
word: thistle butterfly
word: Troilus butterfly
word: zebra butterfly