Butterfly (Verb)
Meaning 1
Cut and spread open, as in preparation for cooking; "butterflied shrimp".
Classification
Verbs of touching, hitting, tying, digging.
Examples
- The chicken breasts were carefully butterflied to make them thinner and cook more evenly.
- You need to butterfly these pork chops to fill them with the herb stuffing.
- The recipe instructs to butterfly the fish and grill it on both sides.
- To increase the surface area, the steak was butterflied before being marinated in the mixture.
- Before filling with the spinach mixture, the turkey breast was butterflied to allow for even distribution of the ingredients.
Hypernyms
Meaning 2
Flutter like a butterfly.
Classification
Verbs of walking, flying, swimming.
Examples
- As she skipped across the stage, the actress's arms began to butterfly wildly, adding to the dramatic effect of the dance.
- The leaf fluttered gently, then took off and started to butterfly through the autumn air.
- Delicate, the hummingbird's wings started to butterfly rapidly as it began to take flight from the blossoming flower.
- She felt carefree as she began to butterfly around the beach on roller skates, laughing and twirling to the lively music.
- As her parachute deployed, the skilled skydiver's body dropped gently, starting to butterfly through the clear blue sky towards the ground below.
Hypernyms
Meaning 3
Talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions; "The guys always try to chat up the new secretaries"; "My husband never flirts with other women".
Classification
Verbs of telling, asking, ordering, singing.
Examples
- He was notorious for butterfly-ing with multiple women at the same party, never staying with one for more than five minutes.
- Her flirtatious personality led people to believe that she was butterfly-ing, but in reality she was just being friendly.
- The attractive businessman spent the evening butterfly-ing with various colleagues, making light conversation without ever getting too personal.
- Despite his commitments, he couldn't help butterfly-ing with the hostess at every charity event they attended.
- The charming actor was accused of butterfly-ing on set, leading to rumors about potential on-set romances.