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English
A butterflyEtymology
Middle English buterflie, butturflye, boterflye, from Old English butorflēoge, buttorflēoge, buterflēoge, perhaps a compound of butor- 'beater', mutation of bēatan 'to beat', and flēoge 'fly'.[1] More at beat and fly.
Alternate etymology connects the first element to butere (“butter”), as the name may have originally been applied solely to butterflies of a yellowish or butter-coloured blee. This may have merged later with the belief that butterflies ate milk and butter (compare Middle High German molkendiep (“butterfly", lit. "milk-thief”); Modern German Molkendieb), or that they excreted a butter-like substance (compare Middle Dutch boterschijte (“butterfly", lit. "butter-shitter”)). Compare also Middle Dutch botervliege (“butterfly”) (Dutch botervlieg), German Butterfliege (“butterfly”). More at butter, fly.
Pronunciation
Noun
butterfly (plural butterflies)
- A flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, distinguished from moths by their diurnal activity and generally brighter colouring.
- The butterfly stroke.
- A use of surgical tape, cut into thin strips and placed across an open wound to hold it closed.
- butterfly tape
Synonyms
Derived terms
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Verb
to butterfly (third-person singular simple present butterflies, present participle butterflying, simple past and past participle butterflied)
- To cut almost entirely in half and spread the halves apart, in a shape suggesting the wings of a butterfly.
- butterflied shrimp
- To cut strips of surgical tape or plasters into thin strips, and place across a gaping wound to close it.
See also
Anagrams
References
- Notes:
- ^ Donald A. Ringe, A Linguistic History of English: From Proto-Indo-European to Proto-Germanic (Oxford: Oxford, 2003), 232.
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Dallas Morning News
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