Definitions for butterfly
ˈbʌt ərˌflaɪbut·ter·fly

Princeton's WordNet(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. butterfly(noun)

   diurnal insect typically having a slender body with knobbed antennae and broad colorful wings

2. butterfly, butterfly stroke(verb)

   a swimming stroke in which the arms are thrown forward together out of the water while the feet kick up and down

3. butterfly(verb)

   flutter like a butterfly

4. butterfly(verb)

   cut and spread open, as in preparation for cooking

   "butterflied shrimp"

5. chat up, flirt, dally, butterfly, coquet, coquette, romance, philander, mash(verb)

   talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions

   "The guys always try to chat up the new secretaries"; "My husband never flirts with other women"

Wiktionary(4.00 / 1 vote)Rate this definition:

1. butterfly(Noun)

   A flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, distinguished from moths by their diurnal activity and generally brighter colouring.

2. butterfly(Noun)

   Someone seen as being unserious and (originally) dressed gaudily; someone flighty and unreliable.

3. butterfly(Noun)

   The butterfly stroke.

4. butterfly(Noun)

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

   butterfly tape

5. butterfly(Verb)

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

6. butterfly(Verb)

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

Webster Dictionary(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Butterfly(noun)

   a general name for the numerous species of diurnal Lepidoptera

Freebase(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. Butterfly

   A butterfly is a mainly day-flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, which includes the butterflies and moths. Like other holometabolous insects, the butterfly's life cycle consists of four parts: egg, larva, pupa and adult. Most species are diurnal. Butterflies have large, often brightly coloured wings, and conspicuous, fluttering flight. Butterflies comprise the true butterflies, the skippers and the moth-butterflies. All the many other families within the Lepidoptera are referred to as moths. The earliest known butterfly fossils date to the mid Eocene epoch, 40–50 million years ago. Butterflies exhibit polymorphism, mimicry and aposematism. Some, like the Monarch, will migrate over long distances. Some butterflies have evolved symbiotic and parasitic relationships with social insects such as ants. Some species are pests because in their larval stages they can damage domestic crops or trees; however, some species are agents of pollination of some plants, and caterpillars of a few butterflies eat harmful insects. Culturally, butterflies are a popular motif in the visual and literary arts.

Editors Contribution(0.00 / 0 votes)Rate this definition:

1. butterfly

   A type of insect.

   Butterflies are so beautiful to watch as they dance together in pairs.

   Submitted by MaryC on April 15, 2020  

British National Corpus

1. Nouns Frequency

   Rank popularity for the word 'butterfly' in Nouns Frequency: #2800

Anagrams for butterfly »

1. flutterby

How to pronounce butterfly?

1. 

   Alex

   US English

   

   Daniel

   British

   

   Karen

   Australian

   

   Veena

   Indian

How to say butterfly in sign language?

Numerology

1. Chaldean Numerology

   The numerical value of butterfly in Chaldean Numerology is: 8

2. Pythagorean Numerology

   The numerical value of butterfly in Pythagorean Numerology is: 3

Examples of butterfly in a Sentence

1. Muhammad Ali:

   Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee.

2. Musin Almat Zhumabekovich:

   11. Inspiration - this is absolutely amazing and very beautiful madness. 12. Creativity is like a butterfly flying, light wings of inspiration will help fly away beyond the limits of human understanding. 13. Brilliant inspiration comes by itself, namely, a heart-revelation that gives people insight. This is a very special state of mind. The special state of the creative person. 14. A creative person should make discoveries, not mixes and remixes. 15. Do not imitate, do not admire, but simply excel. 16. Shake reality with your creativity. 17. With each century, the imagination of creative people is becoming uglier and uglier, dumber and dumber. 18. Do not imitate, just dominate. 19. How amusing is this evolution of plagiarism. 20. Creative people try for us, only at the beginning of their careers. In the 20th century, there was more theater in the art of cinema. In the 21st there is more advertising, in the same century, music becomes poorer, the richness of sounds gradually decreases, and the number of lazy patterns increases, and painting becomes meaningless and not aesthetic. But everyone is trying to convince you of the opposite, they say they are authorities, and your opinion does not mean anything. 21. Creativity is an alternative universe. 22. Do not break the balance between idea and quality. Since quality is a beautiful density, the pleasure of misunderstanding, because the idea is drowning in quality, and people can not understand your creative work. Whereas a noble idea is a truth that makes everything transparent, and passes through us and gives us genuine pleasure and inspiration from the catharsis of insight. 23. Pride and vanity confuse science and art. 24. 1. Scientific research is at an impasse, because one scientific researcher, by virtue of his pride, will never agree with the opinion of his colleague from the same field of science. Even the most intellectually developed person does not see the whole truth, he only assumes that is (theories and hypotheses), assumption and endless variations of interpretation speak of ignorance. Many researchers have stopped discovering anything really important, they only rephrase the scientific work of each other. The thirst to see and know what really is, and not what you want to see, this is science. 2. What is a library is a collection of opinions, reading any book, throughout the book you are told about the same idea, consisting of only one sentence or phrase. No matter how much you read, it is important how much you understand. 25. 1. Psychology is hacking designed to learn how to manage people. 2. Psychology is a giant drill. 26. Never trust science. Believe the facts, what the teleportator and the time machine show. 27. Fate controls a person using a game joystick. 28. Human thinking is a hierarchy of feelings and emotions, from the darkest and lowest to the lightest and highest. 29. The evil comedy of life is that every new person is a new crack in your psyche. 30. The reading person is a brain eater. Author: Musin Almat Zhumabekovich

3. Richard Bach:

   The mark of your ignorance is the depth of your belief in injustice and tragedy. What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the master calls a butterfly.

4. Unknown:

   A chinese philosopher once had a dream that he was a butterfly. From that day on, he was never quite certain that he was not a butterfly, dreaming that he was a man.

5. Deodatta V. Shenai-Khatkhate:

   Metamorphosis is an inherent part and the most profound process of life, in my view. We constantly transform into better versions of ourselves, like an Ugly Duckling transforming to Swan, and a Caterpillar to beautiful Butterfly. The metamorphosis continues throgh the journey of life, and then from generation to generations yet to come. There is an element of elegance and beauty in the fact that we all evolve, metaphorically, to Butterflies with Earth as our Chrysalis.

Images & Illustrations of butterfly

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