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mothball
[ mawth-bawl, moth- ]
/ ˈmɔθˌbɔl, ˈmɒθ- /
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noun
verb (used with object)
to put into storage or reserve; inactivate.
adjective
inactive; unused; stored away: a mothball fleet.
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Idioms about mothball
- in disuse or in storage, especially with reference to standby equipment.
- (of ideas) dismissed as unworthy of further deliberation.
in mothballs,
Words nearby mothball
mote, motel, mote spoon, motet, moth, mothball, mothballs, moth bean, moth-eaten, mother, motherboard
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2022
How to use mothball in a sentence
After five years in storage, apparently without mothballs, the college’s jerseys were rife with holes and most of the pads were literally coming apart at the seams.
These ‘experts’ once said women couldn’t play football. Boy were they wrong.|Britni de la Cretaz and Lyndsey D’Arcangelo|November 15, 2021|Popular-ScienceNASA lost access to low-Earth orbit for nearly a decade after the retirement of the Space Shuttle, and if the ISS is mothballed, both the space agency and the space industry will lose out.
British Dictionary definitions for mothball
mothball
/ (ˈmɒθˌbɔːl) /
noun
Also called: camphor ball a small ball of camphor or naphthalene used to repel clothes moths in stored clothing, blankets, etc
put in mothballs to postpone work on (a project, activity, etc)
verb (tr)
to prepare (a ship, aircraft, etc) for a long period of storage by sealing all openings with plastic to prevent corrosion
to take (a factory, plant, etc) out of operation but maintain it so that it can be used in the future
to postpone work on (a project, activity, etc)
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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