Meaning

3 senses
  1. (transitive)To cut (food) almost entirely in half and spread the halves apart, in a shape suggesting the wings of a butterfly.

    butterflied shrimp

    Butterfly the chicken before you grill it.

  2. (transitive)To cut strips of surgical tape or plasters into thin strips, and place across (a gaping wound) to close it.

  3. (transitive)To cause events after the point of divergence to not happen as they did in real history, and people conceived after the point of divergence to not exist in recognizable form, due to the random variations introduced by the butterfly effect.

    Pearl Harbor not happening would've butterflied Taylor Swift.

More definitions
  • cut and spread open, as in preparation for cooking
  • flutter like a butterfly
  • talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions

Examples

320 sentences
  1. I captured butterflies with a net.

    Я спіймав метеликів сачком. — ChickenKiev

    ruЯ наловил сачком бабочек. — marafon

    deIch habe Schmetterlinge mit einem Netz gefangen. — Manfredo

  2. His hobby is collecting strange butterflies.

    Його хобі - колекціонування незвичайних метеликів. — ChickenKiev

    ruЕго хобби - коллекционирование необычных бабочек. — marafon

  3. He knows a lot about butterflies.

    Він багато знає про метеликів. — ChickenKiev

    ruОн многое знает о бабочках. — odexed

    deEr weiß viel über Schmetterlinge. — Esperantostern

  4. Is it a butterfly or a moth?

    Це метелик чи моль? — ChickenKiev

    ruЭто бабочка или мотылёк? — Hellerick

    deIst es ein Schmetterling oder eine Motte? — Tamy

  5. This caterpillar will become a beautiful butterfly.

    Ця гусениця перетвориться на прекрасного метелика. — ChickenKiev

    ruЭта гусеница превратится в прекрасную бабочку. — redscorp

    deDiese Raupe wird ein hübscher Schmetterling werden. — lilygilder

Origin

From Middle English buterflie, butturflye, boterflye, from Old English buterflēoge, equiva

From Middle English buterflie, butturflye, boterflye, from Old English buterflēoge, equivalent to butter + fly. Cognate with Dutch botervlieg, German Butterfliege (“butterfly”). The name may have originally been applied to butterflies of a yellowish color, or reflected a belief that butterflies ate milk and butter (compare German Molkendieb (“butterfly”, literally “whey-thief”) and Low German Botterlicker (“butterfly”, literally “butter-licker”)), or that they excreted a butter-like substance (compare Dutch boterschijte (“butterfly”, literally “butter-excretor”)). Compare also German Schmetterling from Schmetten (“cream”), German Low German Bottervögel (“butterfly”, literally “butter-fowl”). More at butter, fly.

Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0 · source

Forms

butterflies, butterflying, butterflied, butterflied
Base formbutterfly · to butterfly
3rd person singularbutterflies
Present participlebutterflying
Past simplebutterflied
Past participlebutterflied

regular · Lesson

Present simpleLesson

I, you, we, theybutterfly
he, she, itbutterflies

Past simpleLesson

all personsbutterflied

Present perfectLesson

I, you, we, theyhave butterflied
he, she, ithas butterflied

Future simple (will)Lesson

all personswill butterfly

Synonyms

8 synonyms
Close in meaning

Word family

3 related words

See also

neighbours in the dictionary
butterfly — meaning, examples, forms, synonyms | Krumeto