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Any one of numerous species of large moths of the family Sphingidæ; -- called also hawk moth.

aterial. All the yarn she [Penelope] spun in Ulysses' absence did but fill Ithaca full of moths. Shak.

The larva of a noctuid mmoth (Achatodes zeæ) which feeds inside the stalks of corn (maize), sometimes causing much damage. It is smooth, with a black head and tail and a row of black dots across each segment.

he christian faith in its name, and guarantees its religious education; a godfather or godmother.

age was [were] no person present but the spouse, the spousess, the Duchess of Bedford her mother, the priest, two gentlewomen, and a young man. Fabyan.

A celebrated Latin hymn, beginning with these words, commemorating the sorrows of the mother of our Lord at the foot of the cross. It is read in the Mass of the Sorrows of the Virgin Mary, and is sung by Catholics when making "the way of the cross" (Via Crucis). See Station, 7 (c).

ted in a core to strengthen it; a core arbor. Stalk borer (Zoöl.), the larva of a noctuid moth (Gortyna nitela), which bores in the stalks of the raspberry, strawberry, tomato, asters, and many other garden plants, often doing much injury.

A prefix used before father, mother, brother, sister, son, daughter, child, etc., to indicate that the person thus spoken of is not a blood relative, but is a relative by the marriage of a parent; as, a stepmother to X is the wife of the father of X, married by him after the death of the mother of X. See Stepchild, Ste…

A brother by the marriage of one's father with the mother of another, or of one's mother with the father of another.

A bereaved child; one who has lost father or mother. [Obs.]

A stepmother. Spenser.

The husband of one's mother by a subsequent marriage.

Stepfather or stepmother.

A daughter of one's stepfather or stepmother by a former marriage.

To suppress the manifestation or report of; to smother; to conceal from public knowledge; as, to stifle a story; to stifle passion. I desire only to have things fairly represented as they really are; no evidence smothered or stifled. Waterland.

To stop, as noise; to silence. With his name the mothers still their babies. Shak.

The point of an epigram or other sarcastic saying. Sting moth (Zoöl.), an Australian moth (Doratifera vulnerans) whose larva is armed, at each end of the body, with four tubercles bearing powerful stinging organs. -- Sting ray. (Zoöl.) See under 6th Ray. -- Sting winkle (Zoöl.), a spinose marine univalve shell of the…

family. And stand betwixt them made, when, severally, All told their stock. Chapman. Thy mother was no goddess, nor thy stock From Dardanus. Denham.

awberry vine. Especially: (a) The root borer (Anarsia lineatella), a very small dark gray moth whose larvæ burrow both in the larger roots and crown, often doing great damage. (b) The crown borer (Tyloderma fragariæ), a small brown weevil whose larva burrows in the crown and kills the plant. -- Strawberry bush (Bot.),…

To wander on foot; to ramble idly or leisurely; to rove. These mothers stroll to beg sustenance for their helpless infants. Swift.