Word Study
mothball
WORDNET DICTIONARY
Noun mothball has 1 sense
- mothball(n = noun.artifact) camphor ball - a small sphere of camphor or naphthalene used to keep moths away from stored clothing; Array is a kind of ball, globe, orb
Derived form verb mothball1
Verb mothball has 1 sense
- mothball(v = verb.possession) Array - put into long-term storage; Array is one way to store
Derived form noun mothball1
Sample sentence:
They mothball the cape
CIDE DICTIONARY
mothball, n.
A small sphere of camphor or naphthalene used to keep moths away from stored clothing. [WordNet 1.5]
mothball, v. t.
To put into long-term storage; as, to mothball the battleships not needed after the war. [WordNet 1.5]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
mothball, n. & v.
--n. a ball of naphthalene etc. placed in stored clothes to keep away moths.
--v.tr.
1 place in mothballs.
2 leave unused.
--n. a ball of naphthalene etc. placed in stored clothes to keep away moths.
--v.tr.
1 place in mothballs.
2 leave unused.
Idiom
in mothballs stored unused for a considerable time.
For further exploring for "mothball" in Webster Dictionary Online
