mothball

See also: moth-ball and moth ball

English

Mothballs

Alternative forms

• moth ball
• moth-ball

Etymology

moth +‎ ball

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /mɒθbɔːl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

Noun

mothball (plural mothballs)

1. (usually in the plural) A small ball of chemical pesticide (typically naphthalene) 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.

Derived terms

• in mothballs (“kept in good condition for later use”)
• mothbally

Translations

small ball

• Bulgarian: топче нафталин (topče naftalin)
• Cebuano: naptalina
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 衛生球／卫生球 (wai⁶ sang¹ kau⁴), 樟腦丸／樟脑丸 (zoeng¹ nou⁵ jyun^4-2)

  Mandarin: 衛生球／卫生球 (zh) (wèishēngqiú), 樟腦丸／樟脑丸 (zh) (zhāngnǎowán)

  Min Nan: 臭丸 (zh-min-nan) (chhàu-oân), 樟腦丸／樟脑丸 (chiuⁿ-ló-oân)

• Czech: naftalín
• Dutch: mottenbal (nl) m
• Erzya: киньгуловтома (kińgulovtoma)
• Finnish: koipallo, koinmyrkky
• French: boule de naphtaline f
• German: Mottenkugel (de) f
• Greek: ναφθαλίνη (el) f (nafthalíni)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Hungarian: molyirtó
• Italian: pallina tarmicida f, naftalina (it) f
• Korean: 좀약 (jomyak)
• Luxembourgish: Mattekugel
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: møllkule m or f

• Portuguese: naftalina (pt) f
• Romanian: naftalină (ro) f
• Russian: нафтали́новый ша́рик m (naftalínovyj šárik)
• Spanish: bola de naftalina f, bola de alcanfor f
• Swedish: malkula (sv) c
• Tamil: அந்துருண்டை (anturuṇṭai)
• Turkish: naftalin (tr)

Verb

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

1. (transitive) To store or shelve something no longer used.

   Synonyms: store, shelve, set aside, defer

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

   • December 13 2021, Molly Ball, Jeffrey Kluger and Alejandro de la Garza, “Elon Musk: Person of the Year 2021”, in Time Magazine‎^[1]:

     Before Musk, America’s space industry was moribund. In 2011, NASA mothballed the last space shuttle, after inking a deal with SpaceX to make uncrewed cargo resupply runs to the International Space Station (ISS).

2. (transitive, figuratively) To stop using (something), but keep it in good condition.
   • 2014, A teacher, "Choosing a primary school: a teacher's guide for parents", The Guardian, 23 September 2014:

     Some schools might have an art studio, an area of forestry in the playground, or a performance stage in the hall – all exceptional assets. Just check they get plenty of use and aren't mothballed while the school concentrates on (you guessed it) maths and literacy.

   • 2021 March 10, Paul Shannon, “Freight's new gateways score highly on location and layout”, in RAIL, number 926, page 34:

     In the short term NR could well mothball the line given its lack of traffic.

Antonyms

• demothball
• unmothball

Derived terms

• mothballed
• mothballer

Translations

to store something no longer used

• Bulgarian: прибирам (bg) (pribiram), консервирам (bg) (konserviram)
• Dutch: in de mottenballen leggen
• Finnish: hyllyttää (fi)
• German: einmotten (de)
• Japanese: 〜を使わずにとっておく (~wo tsukawazuni totteoku)
• (deprecated template usage) {{trans-mid}}
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: legge på is

• Portuguese: engavetar
• Russian: законсервировать (ru) (zakonservirovatʹ)
• Swedish: lägga i malpåse (sv), lägga på is (sv), lägga på hyllan

Further reading

• mothball on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “mothball”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.