MOTH

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does moth mean? 

• MOTH (noun)
  The noun MOTH has 1 sense:

1. typically crepuscular or nocturnal insect having a stout body and feathery or hairlike antennae

  Familiarity information: MOTH used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• MOTH (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Typically crepuscular or nocturnal insect having a stout body and feathery or hairlike antennae

Classified under:

Nouns denoting animals

Hypernyms ("moth" is a kind of...):

lepidopteran; lepidopteron; lepidopterous insect (insect that in the adult state has four wings more or less covered with tiny scales)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "moth"):

miller; moth miller (any of various moths that have powdery wings)

tortricid; tortricid moth (any of numerous small moths having lightly fringed wings; larvae are leaf rollers or live in fruits and galls)

lymantriid; tussock moth (dull-colored moth whose larvae have tufts of hair on the body and feed on the leaves of many deciduous trees)

geometrid; geometrid moth (slender-bodied broad-winged moth whose larvae are called measuring worms)

pyralid; pyralid moth (usually tropical slender-bodied long-legged moth whose larvae are crop pests)

tineoid; tineoid moth (small dull-colored moth with chewing mouthparts)

gelechiid; gelechiid moth (small slender-winged moths whose larvae are agricultural pests)

noctuid; noctuid moth; owlet moth (usually dull-colored medium-sized nocturnal moth; the usually smooth-bodied larvae are destructive agricultural pests)

hawk moth; hawkmoth; hummingbird moth; sphingid; sphinx moth (any of various moths with long narrow forewings capable of powerful flight and hovering over flowers to feed)

bombycid; bombycid moth; silkworm moth (moderate-sized Asiatic moth whose larvae feed on mulberry leaves and produce silk)

saturniid; saturniid moth (large brightly colored and usually tropical moth; larvae spin silken cocoons)

arctiid; arctiid moth (stout-bodied broad-winged moth with conspicuously striped or spotted wings; larvae are hairy caterpillars)

lasiocampid; lasiocampid moth (medium-sized stout-bodied neutral-colored moths with comb-like antennae)

Malacosoma americana; tent-caterpillar moth (moth whose larvae are tent caterpillars)

Derivation:

mothy (infested with moths)

 Context examples 

It attracted him as a candle attracts a moth.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

The thought fluttered in her mind like a flame-attracted moth.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

Like moths, we all love best to flutter in the light.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Great big fat ones with steel and sapphire on their wings; and big moths, in the night, with skull and cross-bones on their backs.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

You're not turning your head to look after more moths, are you?

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“It is such men as he,” retorted Micheldene, “who are like rats in a wheat-rick or moths in a woolfels, a harm and a hindrance to all peaceful and honest men.”

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

People are attracted to the warmth and glow of the fire (you), and they are magnetized to it like moths to a flame.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The researchers conducted a broad scan of the corn borer genome among five moth populations and found that two genes correlated with this activity.

(Secrets to climate change adaptation uncovered in the European corn borer moth, National Science Foundation)

Naphthalene is obtained from either coal tar or petroleum distillation and is primarily used to manufacture phthalic anhydride, but is also used in moth repellents.

(Naphthalene, NCI Thesaurus)

It is used primarily as a space deodorant in products such as room deodorizers, urinal and toilet bowl blocks, and as an insecticide fumigant for moth control.

(Paradichlorobenzene, NCI Thesaurus)