# mothball

Pronunciation: US say "MAWTH-bawl" /ˈmɔθbɔl/; UK say "MOTH-bawl" /ˈmɒθbɔːl/

## Verb

1. To stop using something and store or shelve it, while keeping it in good condition.
   - Simple: To stop using something but keep it safe and in good shape.
   - _The navy mothballed three aging destroyers rather than scrapping them._
   - _The city plans to mothball the old library while it raises money for repairs._

## Noun

2. A small ball of chemical pesticide and deodorant, usually naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene, placed among clothing and other stored articles to protect them from moth larvae and mold.
   - Simple: A small chemical ball put with stored clothes and other things to protect them from moths and mold.
   - _She packed the wool blankets in a cedar trunk with a handful of mothballs._
   - _A faint mothball odor still clung to the suits in the attic wardrobe._
3. Storage or inactivity with the possibility of future use, in the expressions in mothballs and out of mothballs.
   - Simple: Being stored and unused but ready to use again, as in the phrases in mothballs and out of mothballs.
   - _The navy kept dozens of World War II ships in mothballs in case they were needed again._
   - _The studio is bringing the old franchise out of mothballs with a new series._

## Origin

From moth + ball.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/mothball (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).