English

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Etymology

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mothball +‎ -y

Adjective

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mothbally (comparative more mothbally, superlative most mothbally)

  1. Resembling or suggesting mothballs, especially their distinctive odour.
    • 2009 March 13, Phoebe Eaton, “Liquid Assets”, in New York Times[1]:
      A skinny blotter paper suffused with the rosy chemical geraniol and layered with a second blotter dipped in mothbally indole yields lily of the valley, which otherwise would require bales of tender white buds for just a few grams of essential oil.