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butterfly

Pronunciation: /ˈbʌ.tə(ɹ).flaɪ/

The English word “butterfly” has 15 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, distinguished from moths by their diurnal activity and generally brighter colouring.
  2. The imago (final form) of such an insect, consisting usually of a long body with large flat wings, as opposed to earlier instars such as caterpillar or pupa.
  3. A use of surgical tape, cut into thin strips and placed across an open wound to hold it closed.
  4. The butterfly stroke.
  5. Any of several plane curves that look like a butterfly; see Butterfly curve (transcendental) and Butterfly curve (algebraic).
  6. Someone seen as being unserious and (originally) dressed gaudily; someone flighty and unreliable.
  7. A combination of four options of the same type at three strike prices giving limited profit and limited risk.
  8. A random change in an aspect of the timeline seemingly unrelated to the primary point of divergence, resulting from the butterfly effect.
  9. A type of stretch in which one sits on the ground with the legs folded into a shape like that of a butterfly's wings, slightly rocking them up and down, resembling the wings fluttering.
  10. A person who changes partners frequently.
  11. A safety link or detaching hook above the cage attached to the winding rope to prevent the cage from being overwound.
  12. party switcher; turncoat.

verb

  1. To cut (food) almost entirely in half and spread the halves apart, in a shape suggesting the wings of a butterfly.
  2. To cut strips of surgical tape or plasters into thin strips, and place across (a gaping wound) to close it.
  3. To cause events after the point of divergence to not happen as they did in real history, and people conceived after the point of divergence to not exist in recognizable form, due to the random variations introduced by the butterfly effect.

Etymology

From Middle English buterflie, butturflye, boterflye, from Old English buterflēoge, equivalent to butter + fly. Cognate with Dutch botervlieg, German Butterfliege (“butterfly”). The name may have originally been applied to butterflies of a yellowish color, or reflected a belief that butterflies ate milk and butter (compare German Molkendieb (“butterfly”, literally “whey-thief”) and Low German…

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