Lexic.us

Definition of Butterfly

1. Verb. Flutter like a butterfly.

2. Noun. Diurnal insect typically having a slender body with knobbed antennae and broad colorful wings.

3. Verb. Cut and spread open, as in preparation for cooking. "Butterflied shrimp"

4. Noun. A swimming stroke in which the arms are thrown forward together out of the water while the feet kick up and down.

5. Verb. Talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions. "Sam wants to Butterfly with Sue "; "My husband never flirts with other women"

Definition of Butterfly

1. n. A general name for the numerous species of diurnal Lepidoptera.

Definition of Butterfly

1. Noun. A flying insect of the order ''Lepidoptera'', distinguished from moths by their diurnal activity and generally brighter colouring. (defdate from 11th c.) ¹

2. Noun. (rare) Someone seen as being unserious and (originally) dressed gaudily; someone flighty and unreliable. (defdate from 17th c.) ¹

3. Noun. The butterfly stroke. (defdate from 20th c.) ¹

4. Noun. A use of surgical tape, cut into thin strips and placed across an open wound to hold it closed. ¹

5. Verb. To cut almost entirely in half and spread the halves apart, in a shape suggesting the wings of a butterfly. ¹

6. Verb. To cut strips of surgical tape or plasters into thin strips, and place across a gaping wound to close it. ¹

¹ Source: wiktionary.com

Definition of Butterfly

1. [v -FLIED, -FLYING, -FLIES]

Medical Definition of Butterfly

1. Origin: Perh. From the colour of a yellow species. AS. Buter-flege, buttor-fleoge; cf. G. Butterfliege, D. Botervlieg. See Butter, and Fly. A general name for the numerous species of diurnal Lepidoptera. See: Illust. Under Aphrodite] Asclepias butterfly. See Asclepias. Butterfly fish, a kind of double clack valve, consisting of two semicircular clappers or wings hinged to a cross rib in the pump bucket. When open it somewhat resembles a butterfly in shape. Source: Websters Dictionary (01 Mar 1998)

Literary usage of Butterfly

Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:

1. Representative American Plays by Arthur Hobson Quinn (1917)
"MADAME Butterfly The play takes place in Japan in MADAME Butterfly'S little ... As the curtain rises, MADAME Butterfly is spraying the (/rowing flowers with ..."

2. Publications by Folklore Society (Great Britain) (1902)
"Butterfly CHARM. Mr. Charles Rhodes Hirst, aged 23, formerly a clerk in my office, and now in the Town Clerk's office in Sheffield, tells me that when boys ..."

3. The Victor Book of the Opera: Stories of Seventy Grand Operas with Three by Victor Talking Machine Company (1912)
"Then from the last scene we hear the return of Pinkerton announced just as Butterfly has taken her life; the American motif strangely contrasting with the ..."

4. Masterpieces of Murder: An Edmund Pearson True Crime Reader by Edmund Lester Pearson, Gerald Gross (1876)
"The brown butterfly which succeeds the cater measures about one and eight-tenths inches ... Nat iii know the White Mountain butterfly by the name of Oeneis ..."

5. The Victrola Book of the Opera: Stories of the Operas with Illustrations by Samuel Holland Rous, Victor Talking Machine Company (1921)
"The opera, "Madame Butterfly" was produced at La Scala, February 17, 1904. ... CHARACTERS MADAME Butterfly (Cho- Cho-San) Soprano . ..."

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