mothball
/ˈmɒθbɔːl
/noun (usually mothballs)
A small pellet of a pungent substance, typically naphthalene, put in among stored garments to keep away clothes moths.For optimal protection, store in acid-free, nonplastic containers, or in garment bags with mothballs or cedar chips....
- Avoid using electronic repellent devices, mothballs or other unregistered products.
- The stench of mothballs enveloped the store as she pried off the lid, revealing a stack of carefully packed leopard skins.
verb [with object]
1Store (clothes) with mothballs.He left muttering something about mothballing the suit until next year....
- When temperatures plunge to 15°C, São Paulos citizens generally shiver and reach for their mothballed woollens.
2Stop using (a piece of equipment or a building) but keep it in good condition so that it can readily be used again: it would cost the company a lot of money just to mothball the mine (as adjective mothballed) mothballed ships from World War II...
- The notion that the country can sustain a capable defence force by mothballing equipment is laughable.
- Other mothballed military facilities are available if the number of detainees continues to rise.
- Along with a cancellation of the Shuttle NASA should mothball the space station.
2.1Cancel or postpone work on (a plan or project): plans to invest in four superstores have been mothballed...
- When market forces caught up with the Soviet Union in the early 1990s, many of its research-cum-defense projects were mothballed.
- Earlier plans were mothballed when fund managers lost their appetite for another semi-state sell-off.
- His untimely death meant the project was effectively mothballed, although it toured as a series of exhibitions during the 1970s.
Phrases
in mothballs