different between butterfly vs flinder
butterfly
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Superseded non-native Middle English papilion (“butterfly”) borrowed from Old French papillon (“butterfly”).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)
- A flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, distinguished from moths by their diurnal activity and generally brighter colouring. [from 11th c.]
- A use of surgical tape, cut into thin strips and placed across an open wound to hold it closed.
- (swimming) The butterfly stroke. [from 20th c.]
- (in the plural) A sensation of excited anxiety felt in the stomach.
- I get terrible butterflies before an exam.
- (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.
- 1859, George Meredith, The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, Chapter 15:
Synonyms
- lep
Derived terms
Translations
Verb
butterfly (third-person singular simple present butterflies, present participle butterflying, simple past and past participle butterflied)
- (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.
- (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)
- bowtie
Inflection
butterfly From the web:
- what butterfly
- what butterfly looks like a monarch
- what butterfly eat
- what butterfly mimics the monarch
- what butterfly am i
- what butterfly symbolizes
- what butterfly means
flinder
English
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /fl?nd?/
Etymology 1
From Middle English flendris, of North Germanic origin, from or related to Norwegian flindra, from Proto-Germanic *flintaz, from Proto-Indo-European *splind- (“to split, cleave”).
Alternative forms
- flender (Scotland)
Noun
flinder (plural flinders)
- A small piece or fragment; a thin slice; splinter
Etymology 2
From Middle English flindre. Compare Dutch vlinder.
Noun
flinder (plural flinders)
- (obsolete or dialect) A butterfly.
Verb
flinder (third-person singular simple present flinders, present participle flindering, simple past and past participle flindered)
- (intransitive) To flirt; run about in a fluttering manner
Further reading
- Douglas Harper (2001–2021) , “flinder”, in Online Etymology Dictionary
Anagrams
- frindle
flinder From the web:
- what flinder mean
- flinders what to do
- what is flinders university known for
- what polly flinders was warming
- what on flinders street melbourne
- what is flinders ranges
- what does flinders mean
- what is flinders street station
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