mothballs
IdiomsExample Sentences
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Growing up, restaurateur Andy Kalish associated two smells with Friday nights: his grandmother's chicken soup and mothballs in his grandfather's closet.
From Salon • Apr. 16, 2022
She also took something else out of the mothballs: the maiden name and hyphen that she’d set aside for simplicity’s sake during the race.
From Washington Post • Jan. 22, 2022
“But honestly, once we were given the green light to come back, we came out of mothballs very quickly ... and then we just drove it to the finish line.”
From Los Angeles Times • Jun. 29, 2021
Meanwhile, mechanics will take the aircraft that have been grounded nearly two years out of mothballs — making sure all the moving parts are lubricated and functioning correctly.
From Seattle Times • Nov. 18, 2020
We used to come in the back door, and the sawdust, stale beer, steam and boiling meat made me feel as if I’d been eating mothballs.
From "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" by Maya Angelou
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Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.