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Butterfly
Definitions
- 1 A flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, distinguished from moths by their diurnal activity and generally brighter colouring.
"It is true. I am like a butterfly, and I shall only live a little while."
- 2 a swimming stroke in which the arms are thrown forward together out of the water while the feet kick up and down wordnet
- 3 A use of surgical tape, cut into thin strips and placed across an open wound to hold it closed. attributive
"butterfly tape; butterfly bandage; butterfly strips"
- 4 diurnal insect typically having a slender body with knobbed antennae and broad colorful wings wordnet
- 5 The butterfly stroke.
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- 6 Any of several plane curves that look like a butterfly; see Butterfly curve (transcendental) and Butterfly curve (algebraic).
- 7 Ellipsis of butterflies in one’s stomach (“A sensation of excited anxiety felt in the stomach”). abbreviation, alt-of, ellipsis, in-plural
"I get terrible butterflies before an exam."
- 8 Someone seen as being unserious and (originally) dressed gaudily; someone flighty and unreliable. archaic
"He was affable; therefore he was frivolous. The women liked him; therefore he was a butterfly."
- 9 A combination of four options of the same type at three strike prices giving limited profit and limited risk.
- 10 A random change in an aspect of the timeline seemingly unrelated to the primary point of divergence, resulting from the butterfly effect.
"One potential butterfly could be JFK having another son the year after the POD instead of a daughter."
- 11 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.
- 12 A person who changes partners frequently.
"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."
- 13 A safety link or detaching hook above the cage attached to the winding rope to prevent the cage from being overwound.
- 14 party switcher; turncoat. Philippine, Philippines, derogatory, often
- 1 To cut (food) almost entirely in half and spread the halves apart, in a shape suggesting the wings of a butterfly. transitive
"butterflied shrimp"
- 2 talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions wordnet
- 3 To cut strips of surgical tape or plasters into thin strips, and place across (a gaping wound) to close it. transitive
"After everyone had obeyed his commands, the lieutenant motioned for two medics that now appeared to enter the room and attend to Dr. Carter. They bandaged him up, butterflying some of the deeper gashes and gave him a couple of shots."
- 4 cut and spread open, as in preparation for cooking wordnet
- 5 To cause events after the point of divergence to not happen as they did in real history, and people conceived after the point of divergence to not exist in recognizable form, due to the random variations introduced by the butterfly effect. transitive
"Pearl Harbor not happening would've butterflied Taylor Swift."
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- 6 flutter like a butterfly wordnet
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”).
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”).
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