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Webster 1913 Edition
Butterfly
But′ter-flyˊ
,Noun.
pl.
Butterflies
. [Perh. from the color of a yellow species. AS.
buter-flēge
, buttor-fleóge
; cf. G. butterfliege
, D. botervlieg
. See Butter
, and Fly
.] (Zool.)
A general name for the numerous species of diurnal Lepidoptera.
[See Illust. under
Aphrodite
.] Asclepias butterfly
. See under
– Asclepias
. Butterfly fish
(Zool.)
, the ocellated blenny (
– Blennius ocellaris
) of Europe. See Blenny
. The term is also applied to the flying gurnard. Butterfly shell
(Zool.)
, a shell of the genus
– Voluta
. Butterfly valve
(Mech.)
, a kind of double clack valve, consisting of two semicircular clappers or wings hinged to a cross rib in the pump bucket. When open it somewhat resembles a butterfly in shape.
Webster 1828 Edition
Butterfly
BUT'TERFLY
,Noun.
Papilio, a genus of insects, of the order of lepidopters. They have four wings imbricated with a kind of downy scales; the tongue is convoluted in a spiral form; and the body is hairy. The species are numerous. Butter-flies proceed from the crysalids of caterpillars; caterpillars proceed from eggs deposited by butterflies; they then change into crysalids, which produce butterflies, which again deposit their eggs.