moth-ball

A form of mothball — A small ball of chemical pesticide (originally camphor and now typically naphthalene or paradichlorobenzene) and deodorant placed in or around clothing and other articles to deter moth larvae which may damage them.

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Meanings

nounmoth-ball (plural moth-balls)

plural moth-balls

  1. alternativeAlternative form of mothball.

    Me and Solly, as I now called him, prepared to shake off our moth-balls and wing our way against the arc-lights of the joyous and tuneful East.

    1907, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “Seats of the Haughty”, in Heart of the West, New York, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company for Review of Reviews Co., →OCLC, page 82
    1 more example

    The church interior was as comfortable as Sunday-morning toast and marmalade— […] and a general polite creaking of ladies' best strays and gentlemen's stiff shirt-bosoms, and an odor of the best cologne and moth-balls.

    1914 February, Sinclair Lewis, “He Becomes Mildly Religious and Highly Literary”, in Our Mr. Wrenn: The Romantic Adventures of a Gentle Man, New York, N.Y.: Grosset & Dunlap, →OCLC, pages 213–214
Cite this entry
APA

moth-ball. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/moth-ball

MLA

“moth-ball.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/moth-ball. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “moth-ball,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/moth-ball.

Source: moth-ball on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.