Moth
[mɒθ] or [mɔθ]
Definition
(noun.) typically crepuscular or nocturnal insect having a stout body and feathery or hairlike antennae.
Typed by Borg--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) A mote.
(n.) Any nocturnal lepidopterous insect, or any not included among the butterflies; as, the luna moth; Io moth; hawk moth.
(n.) Any lepidopterous insect that feeds upon garments, grain, etc.; as, the clothes moth; grain moth; bee moth. See these terms under Clothes, Grain, etc.
(n.) Any one of various other insects that destroy woolen and fur goods, etc., esp. the larvae of several species of beetles of the genera Dermestes and Anthrenus. Carpet moths are often the larvae of Anthrenus. See Carpet beetle, under Carpet, Dermestes, Anthrenus.
(n.) Anything which gradually and silently eats, consumes, or wastes any other thing.
Typed by Anton
Synonyms and Synonymous
n. (Ent.) Miller.
Editor: Ramon
Definition
n. a family of insects like butterflies seen mostly at night: the larva of this insect which gnaws cloth: that which eats away gradually and silently.—v.t. Moth′-eat to prey upon as a moth eats a garment.—adj. Moth′-eat′en eaten or cut by moths.—n. Moth′-hunt′er a little kind of swallow which hunts moths &c. called also the Goatsucker.—adj. Moth′y full of moths.—Death's-head moth (see Death).
Typist: Richard
Unserious Contents or Definition
To see a moth in a dream, small worries will lash you into hurried contracts, which will prove unsatisfactory. Quarrels of a domestic nature are prognosticated.
To dream of a white moth, foretells unavoidable sickness, though you will be tempted to accuse yourself or some other with wrong-doing, which you think causes the complaint. For a woman to see one flying around in the room at night, forebodes unrequited wishes and disposition which will effect the enjoyment of other people. To see a moth flying and finally settling upon something, or disappearing totally, foreshadows death of friends or relatives.
Edited by Della
Unserious Contents or Definition
An unfortunate acquaintance who is always in the hole. And the only ones who try to get him out are his enemies.
Typist: Tyler
Examples
- What they done, is laid up wheer neither moth or rust doth corrupt, and wheer thieves do not break through nor steal. Charles Dickens. David Copperfield.
- Among the more familiar products of coal tar or petroleum are moth balls, carbolic acid, benzine, vaseline, and paraffine. Edward W. Byrn. The Progress of Invention in the Nineteenth Century.
- Whilst Wildeve had been preparing his moth-signal another person had come behind him up to the gate. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- And then you wonder that such a charming moth could come from such a forbidding shell as that. Mark Twain. The Innocents Abroad.
- The moth roamed away. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- Securing one, he returned to the window, and holding the moth to the chink, opened his hand. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- The poor moth, when writhing in torture of its own seeking, how often and how easily I have put at rest! Harriette Wilson. The Memoirs of Harriette Wilson.
- The moth made towards the candle upon Eustacia's table, hovered round it two or three times, and flew into the flame. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- Among insects there are innumerable instances; thus Linnaeus, misled by external appearances, actually classed an homopterous insect as a moth. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- A great moth goes humming by me; it alights on a plant at Mr. Rochester's foot: he sees it, and bends to examine it. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- Partly of that moth whose skeleton is getting burnt up in the wick of the candle, she said slowly. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- It was like strange moths, very soft and silent, settling on her from the darkness of her soul. D. H. Lawrence. Women in Love .
- This latter fact is well exemplified in the state of the wings of female moths belonging to the same family. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- You're not turning your head to look after more moths, are you? Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- Moths, and all sorts of ugly creatures, replied Estella, with a glance towards him, hover about a lighted candle. Charles Dickens. Great Expectations.
- Quatrefages states that the hybrids from two moths (Bombyx cynthia and arrindia) were proved in Paris to be fertile inter se for eight generations. Charles Darwin. On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection.
- Measures were taken to select the seed of the heal thy moths and to destroy the others. Walter Libby. An Introduction to the History of Science.
- Wildeve contemplated her for a minute, and then retreating into the heath beat the ferns lightly, whereupon moths flew out alarmed. Thomas Hardy. The Return of the Native.
- There was nothing but pickled vermin, and drawers full of blue-bottles and moths, with no carpet on the floor. George Eliot. Middlemarch.
Editor: Timmy