moth

Pluralmoths

Formsmoths, mothing, mothed

1. 1
   insectnouncountable

   A flying insect of the order Lepidoptera, mostly active at night, told apart from butterflies chiefly by antennae that are often feathery and lack a clubbed tip.

   A large moth landed on the window screen, drawn by the kitchen light.

   Moths emerged at dusk and circled the campfire for hours.

   UsageLike a moth to a flame means strongly drawn to something, often something harmful.

   Note

   The insect sense. Old English moþþe goes back to a Germanic word for an insect, worm or maggot, a name that suits the cloth-eating grub better than the winged adult. Zoologically, the definition works by exclusion: any lepidopteran outside the butterfly superfamily Papilionoidea. William E. Conner's "An Acoustic Arms Race" (2013) captures the night-flier's world, where ghost swift moths hide from echolocating bats by clustering just above vegetation.

2. 2
   slow destroyernounfigurativelycountable

   Anything that gradually and silently consumes, wastes, or eats away at something else.

   Envy can be a moth, consuming a person from the inside over many years.

   He called gambling the moth that had wasted his father's fortune.

   Similarcanker, blight, cancer

   Note

   Here the word draws on the cloth-eating moth of older writing: the thing that eats from inside without being noticed. It usually comes with an article and a victim, as in envy as a moth, or the moth that wasted a fortune. It works best when the slowness and silence of the damage are the point. Unlike the insect, it names a process of ruin rather than a creature.

3. 3
   insect huntingverbintransitive

   To hunt for moths, typically by attracting them with lights after dark.

   Naturalists often moth near woodland edges where species are most diverse.

   She spent the warm evening mothing along the riverbank.

   UsageMostly as mothing: go mothing.

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