1.  butterfly(n = noun.animal) - diurnal insect typically having a slender body with knobbed antennae and broad colorful wings;
is a kind of lepidopteran, lepidopteron, lepidopterous insect
has particulars: brush-footed butterfly, four-footed butterfly, nymphalid, nymphalid butterfly, ringlet, ringlet butterfly, danaid, danaid butterfly, pierid, pierid butterfly, sulfur butterfly, sulphur butterfly, lycaenid, lycaenid butterfly

2.  butterfly(n = noun.act) butterfly stroke - a swimming stroke in which the arms are thrown forward together out of the water while the feet kick up and down;
is a kind of swimming stroke
has parts: dolphin kick

1.  butterfly(v = verb.motion) - flutter like a butterfly;
is one way to dart, fleet, flit, flutter
Sample sentences: Something ----s; Somebody ----s

2.  butterfly(v = verb.contact) - cut and spread open, as in preparation for cooking; "butterflied shrimp"
is one way to open, spread, spread out, unfold
Sample sentences: Somebody ----s something

3.  butterfly(v = verb.communication) chat up, coquet, coquette, dally, flirt, mash, philander, romance - talk or behave amorously, without serious intentions; "The guys always try to chat up the new secretaries"; "My husband never flirts with other women"
is one way to speak, talk
Sample sentences: Somebody ----s; Somebody ----s PP

   A general name for the numerous species of diurnal Lepidoptera.
"[See Illust. under Aphrodite.]" [1913 Webster]

butterfly, n. (pl. -flies)
1 any diurnal insect of the order Lepidoptera, with knobbed antennae, a long thin body, and four usu. brightly coloured wings erect when at rest.
2 a showy or frivolous person.
3 (in pl.) colloq. a nervous sensation felt in the stomach.

Idiom:
butterfly net a fine net on a ring attached to a pole, used for catching butterflies. butterfly nut a kind of wing-nut. butterfly stroke a stroke in swimming, with both arms raised and lifted forwards together. butterfly valve a valve with hinged semicircular plates.

Etymology:
OE buttor-fleoge (as BUTTER, FLY(2))

N  irresolution, infirmity of purpose, indecision, indetermination, undetermination, unsettlement, uncertainty, demur, suspense, hesitating, hesitation, hesitancy, vacillation, changeableness, fluctuation, alternation, caprice, fickleness, levity, legerete, pliancy, weakness, timidity, cowardice, half measures, waverer, ass between two bundles of hay, shuttlecock, butterfly, wimp, doughface, irresolute, infirm of purpose, double-minded, half-hearted, undecided, unresolved, undetermined, shilly-shally, fidgety, tremulous, hesitating, off one's balance, at a loss, vacillating, unsteady, unsteadfast, fickle, without ballast, capricious, volatile, frothy, light, lightsome, light-minded, giddy, fast and loose, weak, feeble-minded, frail, timid, wimpish, wimpy, cowardly, dough-faced, facile, pliant, unable to say 'no', easy-going revocable, reversible, irresolutely, irresolved, irresolvedly, in faltering accents, off and on, from pillar to post, seesaw, Int, how happy could I be with either!.

N  beauty, the beautiful, to kalon, le beau ideal, aesthetics, callaesthetics, pulchritude, form, elegance, grace, beauty unadorned, natural beauty, symmetry, comeliness, fairness, polish, gloss, good effect, good looks, belle tournure, trigness, bloom, brilliancy, radiance, splendor, gorgeousness, magnificence, sublimity, sublimification, concinnity, delicacy, refinement, charm, je ne sais quoi, style, Venus, Aphrodite, Hebe, the Graces, Peri, Houri, Cupid, Apollo, Hyperion, Adonis, Antionous, Narcissus, peacock, butterfly, garden, flower of, pink of, bijou, jewel, work of art, flower, flow'ret gay, wildflower, rose, lily, anemone, asphodel, buttercup, crane's bill, daffodil, tulip, tiger lily, day lily, begonia, marigold, geranium, lily of the valley, ranunculus, rhododendron, windflower, pleasurableness, beautifying, landscaping, landscape gardening, decoration, calisthenics, beauty, hunk (of men), beautiful, beauteous, handsome, gorgeous, pretty, lovely, graceful, elegant, prepossessing, attractive, delicate, dainty, refined, fair, personable, comely, seemly, bonny, good-looking, well-favored, well-made, well-formed, well- proportioned, proper, shapely, symmetrical, harmonious, sightly, fit to be seen, passable, not amiss, goodly, dapper, tight, jimp, gimp, janty, jaunty, trig, natty, quaint, trim, tidy, neat, spruce, smart, tricksy, bright, bright eyed, rosy cheeked, cherry cheeked, rosy, ruddy, blooming, in full bloom, brilliant, shining, beamy, beaming, sparkling, splendid, resplendent, dazzling, glowing, glossy, sleek, rich, superb, magnificent, grand, fine, sublime, showy, specious, artistic, artistical, aesthetic, picturesque, pictorial, fait a peindre, well-composed, well grouped, well varied, curious, enchanting becoming, ornamental, undeformed, undefaced, unspotted, spotless, auxilium non leve vultus habet, beauty born of murmuring sound, flowers preach to us if we will hear, gratior ac pulchro veniens in corpore virtus, none but the brave deserve the fair, thou who hast the fatal gift of beauty.

N  variegation, colors, dichroism, trichroism, iridescence, play of colors, polychrome, maculation, spottiness, striae, spectrum, rainbow, iris, tulip, peacock, chameleon, butterfly, tortoise shell, mackerel, mackerel sky, zebra, leopard, cheetah, nacre, ocelot, ophite, mother-of-pearl, opal, marble, check, plaid, tartan, patchwork, marquetry-, parquetry, mosaic, tesserae, strigae, chessboard, checkers, chequers, harlequin, Joseph's coat, tricolor, variegated, many-colored, many-hued, divers-colored, party- colored, dichromatic, polychromatic, bicolor, tricolor, versicolor, of all the colors of the rainbow, of all manner of colors, kaleidoscopic, iridescent, opaline, opalescent, prismatic, nacreous, pearly, shot, gorge de pigeon, chatoyant, irisated, pavonine, pied, piebald, motley, mottled, marbled, pepper and salt, paned, dappled, clouded, cymophanous, mosaic, tesselated, plaid, tortoise shell, spotted, spotty, punctated, powdered, speckled, freckled, flea-bitten, studded, flecked, fleckered, striated, barred, veined, brinded, brindled, tabby, watered, grizzled, listed, embroidered, daedal, naevose, stipiform, strigose, striolate, (iii) PERCEPTIONS OF LIGHT.

brush-footed butterfly, butterfly bush, butterfly collector, butterfly effect, butterfly fish, butterfly flower, butterfly nut, butterfly orchid, butterfly orchis, butterfly pea, butterfly plant, butterfly ray, butterfly stroke, butterfly valve, butterfly weed, cabbage butterfly, comma butterfly, danaid butterfly, emperor butterfly, four-footed butterfly, greater butterfly orchid, hairstreak butterfly, lesser butterfly orchid, lycaenid butterfly, milkweed butterfly, monarch butterfly, mourning cloak butterfly, nymphalid butterfly, peacock butterfly, pierid butterfly, ringlet butterfly, sea butterfly, southern cabbage butterfly, sulfur butterfly, sulphur butterfly, tortoiseshell butterfly, troilus butterfly