Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various often brightly colored butterflies of the family Nymphalidae or the subfamily Nymphalinae, having reduced forelegs that are not used for walking.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • Pertaining to the Nymphalidæ, or having their characters.
  • noun A nymphalid butterfly.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun Any butterfly of the family Nymphalidae, consisting of medium to large butterflies found worldwide, typically having brightly colored wings and much-reduced nonfunctional forelegs carried folded on the breast.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Any butterfly of the order Nymphalidae

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun medium to large butterflies found worldwide typically having brightly colored wings and much-reduced nonfunctional forelegs carried folded on the breast

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From New Latin Nymphālidae, family name, from Nymphālis, type genus, ultimately from Latin nympha, nymph; see nymph.]

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Examples

  • In the nymphalid butterflies, the pupa is often called a 'chrysalis' on account of the golden hue displayed by the cuticle, and the term

    The Life-Story of Insects 1902

  • The means by which the suspended pupa of a nymphalid butterfly attaches its cremaster to the silken pad which the larva has spun in preparation for pupation, is worthy of brief attention.

    The Life-Story of Insects 1902

  • Mail umn edu sneak is talkily new, but tenderizer to nymphalid furring to your drawl and crenelle mexico is forte on the bloodlust.

    Rational Review 2009

  • He was in a nymphalid for a few hours then he died ….

    xml's Blinklist.com 2008

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