butterfly
Pluralbutterflies
Verbbutterflies, butterflying, butterflied
Pluralbutterflies
Formsbutterflies, butterflying, butterflied
- 1A flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, active by day and usually more brightly colored than moths.
A monarch butterfly drifted across the meadow toward the milkweed.
Many butterflies feed on nectar from blooming flowers.
Note
The creature every other sense borrows its shape or manner from. As a figure of speech it suggests brightness that does not last: D. H. Lawrence writes, "I am like a butterfly, and I shall only live a little while." The less kind version of that image is the flighty, unserious person.
Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact
- Lawrence wrote these exact words. They are spoken by the narrator in “[Autobiographical Fragment]”; “writes” correctly attributes authorship rather than identifying Lawrence as the speaker. journalofdhlawrencestudies.com
- 2Short for butterflies in one’s stomach: in the plural, a fluttering, nervous feeling in the stomach before something exciting or frightening.
He felt butterflies as the plane began its descent.
The actor still gets butterflies moments before stepping on stage.
UsageCommon with get, have, or feel: have butterflies, get butterflies in your stomach.
Note
Used in the plural, it names the fluttering, nervous feeling that comes before an exam, a plane's descent or a step onto the stage. The full idiom, butterflies in one's stomach, still stands behind the short form, and its fluttering wings come from the insect.
- 3A swimming stroke in which both arms sweep forward together over the water while the legs kick in unison.
He won the 200-meter butterfly at the regional meet.
Her butterfly improved after months of drills.
UsageUsually swim the butterfly or swim butterfly; races are named like the 200-meter butterfly.
Note
Swimmers drop the second word of butterfly stroke, so the noun names both the stroke and the races swum in it, as in the 200-meter butterfly. Both arms recover over the water together while the legs drive a synchronized dolphin kick, and it is regarded as among the most physically demanding strokes.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- Both arms recover together over the water. usms.org
- The legs kick simultaneously. usms.org
- Butterfly is regarded as among the most physically demanding strokes. nbcolympics.com
- 4To cut food almost entirely in half and spread the two halves apart, forming a shape like a butterfly's open wings.
Ask the butcher to butterfly the leg of lamb for you.
She butterflied the pork loin and stuffed it with herbs.
UsageUse butterflied before a food name: butterflied shrimp, a butterflied leg of lamb.
Similarsplit, spatchcock
Note
The name comes from the shape: the food is cut almost in half and the two halves are spread apart like a butterfly's open wings. Opening a cut out flat roughly doubles its surface and evens its thickness, which is why cooks butterfly a chicken before grilling it. Shrimp, pork loin and leg of lamb are treated the same way.
- 5A frivolous or inconstant person who moves lightly from one interest, social group, or romantic partner to another.
The old squire had no patience for such a butterfly, all silk and idle chatter.
He was affable; therefore he was frivolous. The women liked him; therefore he was a butterfly.
1859, George Meredith, The Ordeal of Richard FeverelNote
A put-down dating from the seventeenth century, now rare. George Meredith's The Ordeal of Richard Feverel (1859) shows its logic in miniature: "The women liked him: therefore he was a butterfly." In Henry James's What Maisie Knew (1897), Sir Claude's fault is that he is "simply not serious." Used today, it sounds deliberately old-fashioned.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- This sense dates from the seventeenth century. en.wiktionary.org
- George Meredith wrote The Ordeal of Richard Feverel, first published in 1859. en.wikipedia.org
- The opened Project Gutenberg texts have a colon: “The women liked him: therefore he was a butterfly.” The narrator is presenting Richard's judgment of Ralph Morton. gutenberg.org
- Henry James wrote What Maisie Knew, first published in 1897. en.wikisource.org
- The James passage characterizes Sir Claude as not serious and connects that fault with being a butterfly. gutenberg.org
Less common meanings
- 6In ice hockey, a goalkeeping style or save in which the goalie falls onto both knees and splays the leg pads outward to each side.
She made a quick butterfly save to deny the breakaway in the final minute.
Many modern goaltenders play the butterfly, keeping their pads flat on the ice to seal off the bottom of the net.
Note
Hockey uses the word in two ways: for a whole style of goaltending (she plays the butterfly) and, as a modifier, for a single save made from that position (a butterfly save). The point of the position is the bottom of the net: with both knees down and the pads fanned flat to either side, the goalie's legs spread across the ice like a pair of open wings.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 2 facts
- The butterfly position is intended to cover the bottom of the net. cdn3.sportngin.com
- The goalie lowers both knees and flares the pads outward against the ice. maxhockeycoaching.com
- 7A stretch performed sitting on the ground with the legs folded so the feet meet, gently rocking the knees up and down like fluttering wings.
She finished her warm-up with a slow butterfly, rocking her knees gently.
The yoga teacher held the butterfly for a full minute.
Note
Named for the picture it makes: soles pressed together and knees bent out to the sides like wings, then lifted and lowered in a slow flutter. The stretch opens the hips and inner thighs. It belongs to warm-ups and flexibility routines rather than to any single sport.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 6 facts
- The name refers to the resemblance between the bent legs and butterfly wings. kindercare.com
- The stretch brings the soles together with the knees bent outward. chtc.sites.uiowa.edu
- The moving version slowly raises and lowers the bent legs like fluttering wings. cypsc.ie
- The stretch improves hip flexibility and stretches the inner thighs. artofliving.org
- The stretch is used in warm-ups. scu.edu
- The stretch is also a general flexibility exercise, without restriction to a particular sport. eat-move-save.extension.illinois.edu
- 8A narrow piece of surgical tape stretched across a wound so that its edges are held shut.
She closed the shallow gash with a butterfly rather than stitches.
The first-aid kit included several butterflies for minor cuts.
Note
Medical shorthand that usually comes before another noun: butterfly tape, butterfly bandage, butterfly strips. Used alone, as in "closed it with a butterfly," the word stands for the whole strip. The strip closes a wound without sutures, and the same idea gives the verb for taping a wound.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 1 fact
- A butterfly strip can close a wound without sutures. my.clevelandclinic.org
- 9To cut surgical tape into thin strips and place them across a gaping wound to hold it closed.
She butterflied the gash on his knee before the ambulance arrived.
Paramedics sometimes butterfly a wound when stitches aren't available.
Similartape
Note
The verb behind the surgical-strip noun, and its object is the wound, not the tape. Paul Garber's Newton's Force (2006) has medics "butterflying some of the deeper gashes," which shows the usual shape: one butterflies a cut or a gash. It describes a closure without sutures, often used in place of stitches.
Checked 30 Oct 2026 · 3 facts
- Paul Garber wrote Newton's Force. en.wiktionary.org
- The book describes medics treating wounds using the exact words quoted. en.wiktionary.org
- The medical verb describes closing a wound with adhesive strips rather than sutures. en.wiktionary.org
- 10An options strategy that combines four options of one type across three strike prices, so that both potential gain and potential loss are capped.
- 11In alternate-history fiction, a chance change, seemingly unrelated to the point where the imagined history splits off, that follows from the butterfly effect.
- 12In alternate-history fiction, to make later events or people turn out differently from real history, or not exist, through the butterfly effect.
- 13A politician who switches party allegiance, viewed with scorn as a turncoat.
- 14Any of several plane curves whose shape resembles a butterfly.
- 15A safety link or detaching hook fitted above a mine cage on the winding rope to stop the cage from being overwound.
Showing meanings only.
Practice
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Origin
From Old English buterflēoge, butter plus fly, like Dutch botervlieg and German Butterfliege. Why butter is uncertain (perhaps yellow wings, or old beliefs about butter), and the popular idea that the word began as flutterby is a myth.
Checked 31 Oct 2026 · 5 facts
- Butterfly descends from Old English buterflēoge, a compound of butter and fly. en.wiktionary.org
- Dutch botervlieg has the same butter-plus-fly formation. en.wiktionary.org
- German Butterfliege has the same butter-plus-fly formation. en.wiktionary.org
- The reason for butter is uncertain; proposed explanations include yellow colouring and beliefs about butterflies eating butter. en.wiktionary.org
- The supposed derivation from flutterby is a popular false etymology. en.wiktionary.org