different between butterfly vs sing
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Superseded non-native Middle English papilion (“butterfly”) borrowed from Old French papillon (“butterfly”).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
sing
English
Etymology
From Middle English singen, from Old English singan, from Proto-West Germanic *singwan, from Proto-Germanic *singwan?, from Proto-Indo-European *seng??-. Cognate with German singen (“to sing”).
Pronunciation
- enPR: s?ng, IPA(key): /s??/
- Rhymes: -??
Verb
sing (third-person singular simple present sings, present participle singing, simple past sang, past participle sung or (archaic) sungen)
- (intransitive) To produce musical or harmonious sounds with one’s voice.
- (transitive) To express audibly by means of a harmonious vocalization.
- (transitive) To soothe with singing.
- (transitive, intransitive) Of birds, to vocalise:
- (ornithology) To produce a 'song', for the purposes of defending a breeding territory or to attract a mate.
- (literary) To produce any type of melodious vocalisation.
- (intransitive, slang) To confess under interrogation.
- (intransitive) To make a small, shrill sound.
- To relate in verse; to celebrate in poetry.
- 1709, Matthew Prior, Pleasure
- Bid her […] sing / Of human hope by cross event destroyed.
- (Can we find and add a quotation of Milton to this entry?)
- 1709, Matthew Prior, Pleasure
- (intransitive) To display fine qualities; to stand out as excellent.
- (ergative) To be capable of being sung; to produce a certain effect by being sung.
- 1875, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (volume 118, page 685)
- No song sings well unless it is open-vowelled, and has the rhythmic stress on the vowels. Tennyson's songs, for instance, are not generally adapted to music.
- 1875, Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine (volume 118, page 685)
Synonyms
- (confess under interrogation): See also Thesaurus:confess and Thesaurus:rat out
Derived terms
Related terms
- song
Translations
Noun
sing (plural sings)
- The act, or event, of singing songs.
- 2002, Martha Mizell Puckett, Hoyle B. Puckett, Memories of a Georgia Teacher: Fifty Years in the Classroom, page 198:
- Some of the young folks asked Mrs. Long could they have a sing at her home that Sunday afternoon; she readily agreed, telling them to come early, bring their songbooks, and have a good sing.
- 2002, Martha Mizell Puckett, Hoyle B. Puckett, Memories of a Georgia Teacher: Fifty Years in the Classroom, page 198:
Derived terms
- singsong
See also
- singe
Anagrams
- IGNs, Ings, NGIs, gins, ings, nigs, sign, snig
Afrikaans
Etymology
From Dutch zingen.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /s??/
Verb
sing (present sing, present participle singende, past participle gesing)
- to sing
Derived terms
- gesonge (verbal adjective)
German
Pronunciation
Verb
sing
- singular imperative of singen
Hungarian
Etymology
Borrowed from German. First attested in 1368.
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): [??i??]
- Rhymes: -i??
Noun
sing (plural singek)
- (archaic) cubit (a unit of linear measure, no longer in use, originally equal to the length of the forearm)
Declension
Derived terms
- singcsont
References
Further reading
- sing in Bárczi, Géza and László Országh: A magyar nyelv értelmez? szótára (’The Explanatory Dictionary of the Hungarian Language’). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó, 1959–1962. Fifth ed., 1992: ?ISBN
Iu Mien
Etymology
From Chinese ? (MC ?i??).
Noun
sing
- sound
Zou
Etymology 1
From Proto-Kuki-Chin *thii?, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *kja?. Cognates include Burmese ????? (hkyang:) and Chinese ? (ji?ng).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /si???/
Noun
síng
- ginger
Etymology 2
From Proto-Kuki-Chin *thi?, from Proto-Sino-Tibetan *si?. Cognates include Burmese ??? (sac) and Chinese ? (x?n).
Pronunciation
- IPA(key): /si???/
Noun
síng
- tree
References
- Lukram Himmat Singh (2013) A Descriptive Grammar of Zou, Canchipur: Manipur University, page 45
sing From the web:
- what song is this
- what singer died today
- what singer just died
- what singers died in 2020
- what singer died recently
- what singer died in a plane crash
- what singer has the most octaves
- what singer am i
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