moth-eaten sweater
- noun
:
suéter roto
- I found a moth-eaten sweater in the attic.
Examples
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The moth-eaten sweater had more holes than fabric after years in storage.
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This moth-eaten sweater belonged to my grandmother.
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He wore a moth-eaten sweater to the gathering.
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She found her grandfather's old moth-eaten sweater at the back of the closet.
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After years of use, my favorite moth-eaten sweater finally has too many holes to wear.
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She decided to donate her old moth-eaten sweater to charity instead of throwing it away.
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The moth-eaten sweater had sentimental value, reminding him of his mother who had knitted it.
Antonyms
How Worn
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly derivable from the constituents: 'moth-eaten' literally means eaten or damaged by moths and 'sweater' is a knitted garment, so a B1 learner who knows those words can infer a sweater with holes or fraying caused by moths. This is a straightforward compound/adjective+noun composition following transparent semantic logic, so prior exposure is not required for comprehension.
Etymology
The phrase moth-eaten sweater comes from a simple picture: small insects called moths would eat holes in stored wool clothes, so the garment looked moth-eaten and full of holes. So a moth-eaten sweater now means a sweater that is 'worn out' or has holes.