moth /moth/

1. The cloth-eating larva of the clothes moth
2. The imago of the same kind
3. Any member of the Heterocera, a popular and unscientific division of the Lepidoptera, broadly distinguished from butterflies by having duller colouring, a thicker body, antennae not clubbed, wings not tilted over the back in rest, and by the habit of flying by night
4. That which eats away at anything gradually and silently
5. Any of various kinds of insect vermin (obsolete)
6. A fragile, frivolous creature, readily dazzled into destruction (figurative)
7. A light aeroplane

mothed /motht/ adjective

Moth-eaten

mothˈy adjective (mothˈier; mothˈiest)

1. Full of moths
2. Moth-eaten

mothˈball noun

A ball of naphthalene, or a similar substance, for keeping away clothes moths

transitive verb

1. To lay up in mothballs
2. To spray with a plastic and lay up (a ship, etc)
3. To lay aside temporarily, postpone work on, keep in readiness for eventual use

mothˈ-eat transitive verb

(back-formation) to prey upon, as a moth eats a garment

mothˈ-eaten adjective

Eaten or damaged by the larvae of moths (also figurative)

mothˈ-flower noun

A flower pollinated by moths

mothˈ-hunter noun

A goatsucker

mothˈproof adjective

(of clothes, etc) chemically rendered resistant to moths (also transitive verb)

• ontogenic
• ontogenically
• ontogenies
• ontogeny
• ontologic
• ontological
• ontologically
• ontologies
• ontologist
• ontologists
• ontology
• on top of
• on top of the world
• ratched
• ratches
• ratchet
• ratcheted
• ratcheting
• ratchets
• ratchet screwdriver
• ratchet screwdrivers
• ratchet-wheel
• ratchet-wheels
• ratching
• rate