Search the Dictionary

shape or appearance; to metamorphose; as, a caterpillar is ultimately transformed into a butterfly. Love may transform me to an oyster. Shak.

A large, handsome American butterfly (Euphoeades, or Papilio, troilus). It is black, with yellow marginal spots on the front wings, and blue spots on the rear wings.

A large American butterfly (Papilio troilus). It is black, with yellow marginal spots on the front wings, and blue on the rear.

The amount which a tub contains, as a measure of quantity; as, a tub of butter; a tub of camphor, which is about 1 cwt., etc.

An iron hook of a hoisting tub, to which a tackle is affixed. Tug iron, an iron hook or button to which a tug or trace may be attached, as on the shaft of a wagon.

To butt, as a ram does. [Prov. Eng.]

A common, large, handsome, American swallowtail butterfly, now regarded as one of the forms of Papilio, or Jasoniades, glaucus. The wings are yellow, margined and barred with black, and with an orange- red spot near the posterior angle of the hind wings. Called also tiger swallowtail. See Illust. under Swallowtail.…

To loose the buttons of; to unfasten.

undo a knot; to undo a puzzling question; to undo a riddle. Tennyson. Pray you, undo this button. Shak. She took the spindle, and undoing the thread gradually, measured it. Sir W. Scott.

ght colored and tailed hind wings and their diurnal flight cause them to closely resemble butterflies.

An extensive family of butterflies, including those known as skippers (Hesperiadæ).

A beautiful North American butterfly (Basilarchia, or Limenitis, astyanax). Its wings are nearly black with red and blue spots and blotches. Called also red-spotted purple.

A salt of valeric acid with glycerin, occurring in butter, dolphin oil., and forming an forming an oily liquid with a slightly unpleasant odor.

Any one of numerous species of handsomely colored butterflies belonging to Vanessa and allied genera. Many of these species have the edges of the wings irregularly scalloped.

an alkaloid. -- Vegetable brimstone. (Bot.) See Vegetable sulphur, below. -- Vegetable butter (Bot.), a name of several kinds of concrete vegetable oil; as that produced by the Indian butter tree, the African shea tree, and the Pentadesma butyracea, a tree of the order Guttiferæ, also African. Still another kind is…

A group of butterflies including those known as virgins, or gossamer-winged butterflies.

A large and handsome American butterfly (Basilarchia, or Limenitis, archippus). Its wings are orange-red, with black lines along the nervures and a row of white spots along the outer margins. The larvæ feed on willow, poplar, and apple trees.

Any one of numerous species of small violet-colored butterflies belonging to Lycæna, or Rusticus, and allied genera.

A very handsome American butterfly (Polygonia interrogationis). Its wings are mottled with various shades of red and brown and have violet tips.

Any one of several species of gossamer-winged butterflies of the family Lycænidæ.