vanessa

nouncommon in dialogue

Any butterfly of the genus Vanessa.

noun

1
Any butterfly of the genus Vanessa.
The Nymphalidae are a very extensive group, of generally strong-winged and very bright-coloured butterflies, very abundant in the tropics, and represented in our own country by our Fritillaries, our Vanessas, and our Purple-emperor.

Etymology

From the genus name.

Forms

plural: vanessas

Vance · A habitational surname from Old English.Vancouver · A surname.vandalism · Willful damage to or destruction of any property, such as…

vanessa · Any butterfly of the genus Vanessa.

Vanessa · A female given name originating as a coinage.vanilla · Any tropical climbing orchid of the genus Vanilla (especially…vanish · To become invisible or to move out of view unnoticed.

The neighbouring pages — Alphabetical order follows the rules of the language, not byte values: an accent decides only between two otherwise identical words, and Spanish files Ñ as a letter of its own.