to butterfly
- verb
- /ˈbʌtərflaɪ/
- Ask your butcher to butterfly the turkey for you, or do it yourself.
- butterfly a turkey
- butterfly a shrimp
Examples
-
Prepare the shrimp: Peel them down to the tail and butterfly them deeply along the back.
-
It's not like butterflied and pressed, but it's good.
-
The old friends like Alice use a filet mignon reference, you know, when they butterfly cows and they like, you know what I'm talking about.
-
Butterfly the turkey breasts by carefully slicing them through the middle, but not all the way, until you can open them like a book.
Synonyms
To split a bird open and flatten it for roasting
To cut and press a fish flat so it cooks evenly
Antonyms
Idioms
- Informal
An action much stronger than needed against something small and harmless
Compounds
A large orange and black butterfly that travels long distances and whose caterpillars eat milkweed
A small colorful tropical sea fish with a flat body and wide fins, often near coral reefs
- Specialized
A swimming stroke where both arms move forward together and the legs kick like a dolphin
- Specialized
A valve with a flat disc that turns to control or stop the flow of water and air
- Specialized
A small garden plant with thin divided leaves and bright flowers with different colours
A climbing plant with bright blue or purple flowers that people use to make tea and decorate gardens
A flowering plant with colorful, often fragrant flowers that look like butterflies
- Specialized
A medium to large butterfly with bright wings and small front legs not used for walking
A small white butterfly whose caterpillars eat cabbage and other garden plants
A butterfly with jagged wing edges and a white mark shaped like a comma under each hind wing
- Specialized
A large tropical butterfly with short front legs and a bad taste that keeps predators away
A large bright butterfly with blue or green wings found in Africa and parts of Europe and Asia
A small insect with bright wings whose front legs are very small and folded so it walks on four legs
A small southern European orchid with pale green and white flowers that smell sweet
A large orange and black North American butterfly whose caterpillars eat milkweed
A European orchid with large dark green flowers that have a faint smell
- Specialized
A medium to large butterfly with bright wings and very small front legs
A small bright butterfly with orange and black wings that often visits flowers
A small white butterfly whose caterpillars eat cabbage and other garden plants
How Flat
Surface Forms
Etymology
Butterfly in cooking means to cut and open meat so it lies flat like a butterfly's wings, and cooks call this 'to butterfly' because the opened piece looks like wings.