BUTTERFLY

I. noun Usage: often attributive Date: before 12th century any of numerous slender-bodied diurnal lepidopteran insects including one superfamily (Papilionoidea) with broad often brightly colored wings and usually another superfamily comprising the skippers, something that resembles or suggests a ~, a swimming stroke executed in a prone position by moving both arms in a circular motion while kicking both legs up and down, a feeling of hollowness or queasiness caused especially by emotional or nervous tension or anxious anticipation, a defensive move by a goalie in ice hockey executed by dropping to the knees while spreading the lower legs outward, II. transitive verb (-flied; -flying) Date: 1954 to split almost entirely and spread apart