mothball

English

Alternative forms

• moth ball
• moth-ball

Etymology

moth +‎ ball

Noun

Wikipedia mothball (plural mothballs)

1. a small ball of chemical pesticide and deodorant placed in or around clothing and other articles susceptible to damage from mold or moth larvae in order to protect them from this damage; mothballs have either naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene as their active ingredient.

Derived terms

• in mothballs

Translations

small ball

• Dutch: mottenbal (nl) m
• Finnish: koipallo, koinmyrkky

• German: Mottenkugel (de) f

Verb

mothball (third-person singular simple present mothballs, present participle mothballing, simple past and past participle mothballed)

1. (transitive) to store or shelve (something that is no longer used)

   They mothballed the old version after the new one came out.

Synonyms

• shelve

Derived terms

• mothballed

Translations

to store something no longer used

• Dutch: in de mottenballen leggen
• Finnish: hyllyttää (fi)

• German: einmotten (de)