Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun [lowercase] A general name of all lepidopters before the introduction of the binomial nomenclature in zoölogy.
  • noun A notable genus of butterflies: a name variously used.
  • noun [lowercase] Some or any butterfly; especially, a member of the genus Papilio.

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

  • (Zoöl.) A genus of butterflies.

Etymologies

Sorry, no etymologies found.

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Examples

  • In ancient Rome it was known as papilio; it has become butterfly in English.

    VERBATIM: The Language Quarterly Vol VI No 4 1980

  • Beautiful orchids such as the endemic giant Cattleya, Cattleya warscewiczii, or the Butterfly orchid Psychopsis papilio, or the Swan orchid Cycnoches chlorochilon or the Holly Spirit orchid Peristeria elata are native to this ecosystem.

    Magdalena-Urabá moist forests 2008

  • Its distilled from the wings of the papilio obscurus, he continued.

    Black Butterfly Mark Gatiss 2008

  • The man whose discovery of the wretched papilio obscurus set all this in motion.

    Black Butterfly Mark Gatiss 2008

  • He discovered the papilio obscurus butterfly itself on some Boys Own adventure of his out in the wilds.

    Black Butterfly Mark Gatiss 2008

  • En la sama momento papilio, kiu sidis proksime de ni sur la barilo kaj jen etendis, jen altiris siajn rugxajn flugiletojn kun argxenta subajxo, rapide levigxis kaj transflugis al la germana flanko.

    The Esperanto Teacher A Simple Course for Non-Grammarians Helen Fryer

  • Of the well-known green species of papilio, with longish tails and blue or green spots on the hindwing, there are four species, of which one is European.

    The Heart of Nature or, The Quest for Natural Beauty Francis Edward Younghusband 1902

  • The frail, amber-tinted little dragon-flies of the South came hovering over the lotus bloom that edged the basin; long, narrow-shaped butterflies whose velvet-black wings were barred with brilliant stripes of canary yellow fluttered across the forest aisle; now and then a giant papilio sailed high under the arched foliage on tiger-striped wings of chrome and black, or a superb butterfly in pearl white and malachite green came flitting about the sparkle-berry bloom.

    The Firing Line 1899

  • He slept in the open air, or, if he used a tent (papilio), it was open at the sides.

    The Caesars Thomas De Quincey 1822

  • Though probably the mere likeness of _shape_, in the _papilio_, and the papilionaceous plants, suggested the idea of the former, as the latter in

    Hints towards the formation of a more comprehensive theory of life. Samuel Taylor Coleridge 1803

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