different between butterfly vs brush

English

Etymology

From Middle English buterflie, butturflye, boterflye, from Old English butorfl?oge, buttorfl?oge, buterfl?oge (from butere (“butter”)), equivalent to butter +? fly. Cognate with Dutch botervlieg, German Butterfliege (“butterfly”). The name may have originally been applied to butterflies of a yellowish color, and/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-shitter”)). 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 butor- (“beater”), a mutation of b?atan (“to beat”).

Superseded non-native Middle English papilion (“butterfly”) borrowed from Old French papillon (“butterfly”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /?b?t?(?)fla?/
  • (US, Canada) IPA^(key): [?b???fla?]
  • (UK) IPA^(key): [?b?t?fla?]
• Rhymes: -a?

Noun

butterfly (plural butterflies)

2. A flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, distinguished from moths by their diurnal activity and generally brighter colouring. [from 11th c.]
3. A use of surgical tape, cut into thin strips and placed across an open wound to hold it closed.

5. (swimming) The butterfly stroke. [from 20th c.]
6. (in the plural) A sensation of excited anxiety felt in the stomach.

   I get terrible butterflies before an exam.

7. (now rare) Someone seen as being unserious and (originally) dressed gaudily; someone flighty and unreliable. [from 17th c.]
   • 1859, George Meredith, The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, Chapter 15:

     He was affable; therefore he was frivolous. The women liked him; therefore he was a butterfly.

Synonyms

• lep

Derived terms

Translations

Verb

butterfly (third-person singular simple present butterflies, present participle butterflying, simple past and past participle butterflied)

1. (transitive) To cut (food) almost entirely in half and spread the halves apart, in a shape suggesting the wings of a butterfly.

   butterflied shrimp

   Butterfly the chicken before you grill it.

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

See also

• caterpillar
• flutterby
• moth
• Appendix: Animals
• Appendix:English collective nouns

References

Anagrams

• flutterby

Danish

Noun

butterfly c (singular definite butterflyen, plural indefinite butterfly)

1. bowtie

Inflection

English

Etymology

From Middle English brusshe, from Old French broisse (Modern French brosse), from Vulgar Latin *brustia, from Proto-Germanic *burstiz (“bristle”), or also Vulgar Latin *bruscia, from Proto-Germanic *bruskaz (“tuft, thicket, underbrush”).

Pronunciation

• enPR: br?sh, IPA^(key): /b???/
• Rhymes: -??

Noun

brush (countable and uncountable, plural brushes)

2. An implement consisting of multiple more or less flexible bristles or other filaments attached to a handle, used for any of various purposes including cleaning, painting, and arranging hair.
3. The act of brushing something.
4. A piece of conductive material, usually carbon, serving to maintain electrical contact between the stationary and rotating parts of a machine.
5. A brush-like electrical discharge of sparks.

   Synonym: corposant
6. (uncountable) Wild vegetation, generally larger than grass but smaller than trees. See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shrubland
   • 1906, Jack London, Before Adam, chapter 12:

     We broke away toward the north, the tribe howling on our track. Across the open spaces we gained, and in the brush they caught up with us, and more than once it was nip and tuck.
7. A short and sometimes occasional encounter or experience.
   • 2013, Russell Brand, Russell Brand and the GQ awards: 'It's amazing how absurd it seems', The Guardian, 13 September:

     The usual visual grammar was in place – a carpet in the street, people in paddocks awaiting a brush with something glamorous, blokes with earpieces, birds in frocks of colliding colours that if sighted in nature would indicate the presence of poison.

8. The furry tail of an animal, especially of a fox.
9. (zoology) A tuft of hair on the mandibles.
10. (archaic) A short contest, or trial, of speed.
    • 1860, Anthony Trollope, Framley Parsonage (originally published in Cornhill Magazine

      Mark and Lord Lufton had been boys together, and his lordship knew that Mark in his heart would enjoy a brush across the country quite as well as he himself.

11. (music) An instrument, resembling a brush, used to produce a soft sound from drums or cymbals.
12. (computer graphics) An on-screen tool for "painting" a particular colour or texture.
13. (computer graphics) A set of defined design and parameters that produce drawn strokes of a certain texture and quality.

    Coordinate term: texture

14. (video games) In 3D video games, a convex polyhedron, especially one that defines structure of the play area.
15. (poker, slang) The floorperson of a poker room, usually in a casino.
16. (North Wisconsin, uncountable) Evergreen boughs, especially balsam, locally cut and baled for export, usually for use in making wreaths.

Translations

Verb

brush (third-person singular simple present brushes, present participle brushing, simple past and past participle brushed)

1. (transitive) To clean with a brush.

   Brush your teeth.

2. (transitive) To untangle or arrange with a brush.

   Brush your hair.

3. (transitive) To apply with a brush.

   I am brushing the paint onto the walls.

4. (transitive) To remove with a sweeping motion.

   She brushes the flour off your clothes.

   • c. 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act I scene ii^[1]:

     Caliban: As wicked dew as e'er my mother brush'd / With raven's feather from unwholesome fen / Drop on you both! […]

5. (transitive, intransitive) To touch with a sweeping motion, or lightly in passing.

   Her scarf brushed his skin.

   • Some spread their sails, some with strong oars sweep / The waters smooth, and brush the buxom wave.

   • 1990 October 28, Paul Simon, “Further to Fly”, The Rhythm of the Saints, Warner Bros.

     Maybe you will find a love that you discover accidentally, who falls against you gently as a pickpocket brushes your thigh.

6. (intransitive) To clean one's teeth by brushing them.
   • 2000, USA Today (volume 129, issues 2662-2673, page 92)

     Of course, Halloween does not have to be completely treatless. Plain chocolate candy is okay, provided you remember to brush afterwards.

Derived terms

Translations

See also

• broom
• comb

Anagrams

• Shrub, bruhs, burhs, shrub

Middle English

Noun

brush

1. Alternative form of broche