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A small mass, as of butter, shaped by pats. It looked like a tessellated work of pats of butter. Dickens.

gans situated at the bases of the anterior wings of lepidopterous insects. See Illust. of Butterfly.

In common usage, the species in general or collectively; a peafowl. Peacock butterfly (Zoöl.), a handsome European butterfly (Hamadryas Io) having ocelli like those of peacock. -- Peacock fish (Zoöl.), the European blue-striped wrasse (Labrus variegatus); -- so called on account of its brilliant colors. Called also co…

A paste made by mixing ground fresh roasted peanuts with a small quantity of water or oil, and used chiefly as a relish on sandwiches, etc.

To write or mark with a pencil; to paint or to draw. Cowper. Where nature pencils butterflies on flowers. Harte.

A buttress on the left-hand wall of a fives court as the game is played at Eton College, England.

great numbers. I'll pour this pestilence into his ear. Shak. Pestilence weed (Bot.), the butterbur coltsfoot (Petasites vulgaris), so called because formerly considered a remedy for the plague. Dr. Prior.

A handsome American butterfly (Euphydryas, or Melitæa, Phaëton). The upper side of the wings is black, with orange-red spots and marginal crescents, and several rows of cream-colored spots; -- called also Baltimore.

A South American butterfly (Ithonia phono) having nearly transparent wings.

Any additional or auxiliary mass of masonry used to stiffen a wall. See Buttress.

Any butterfly of the genus Pieris and related genera. See Cabbage butterfly, under Cabbage.

An Oriental dish consisting of rice boiled with mutton, fat, or butter. [Written also pilau.]

See Butterwort.

architectural member, upright, and generally ending in a small spire, -- used to finish a buttress, to constitute a part in a proportion, as where pinnacles flank a gable or spire, and the like. Pinnacles may be considered primarily as added weight, where it is necessary to resist the thrust of an arch, etc. Some renow…

used in making biscuits and crackers, for mixing with cocoa, etc. A mixture of this with butter, water, and salt is called Plasmon butter, and resembles clotted cream in appearance.

her diseases. (b) The plant itself, which has deep orange-colored flowers; -- called also butterfly weed.

One of the featherlike scales of certain male butterflies.

To cook, as eggs, by breaking them into boiling water; also, to cook with butter after breaking in a vessel. Bacon.

S.] To poke fun, to excite fun; to joke; to jest. [Colloq.] -- To poke fun at, to make a butt of; to ridicule. [Colloq.]

A word variously explained as "a little puppet," "a little doll," or "a young butterfly." Cf. Popet. [Obs.] So gay a popelote, so sweet a wench. Chaucer.