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Glite Dictionary
🦋 To protect from moths 🦋 Resistant to moths
to mothproof

to mothproof

5.7
To treat clothes or fabric so moths do not eat them
  • verb
  • /ˈmɔθˌpruf/
translation icon : proteger de polillas
  • She carefully mothproofed her favorite dress before storing it in the attic.

Examples

  • I decided to mothproof my winter coat to keep it safe during summer storage.

  • Besides mothproofing dried fruits and nuts, methyl bromide is used for fresh produce like apples and even highly perishable soft fruits.

    Academic text (1995)

  • Before putting away the wool sweaters, remember to mothproof them to prevent any damage.

Antonyms

mothy
7.8

Clothes or fabric that have holes made by small insects

How Mothproof

to mothproof
5.7
to treat
211 3.2
to seal
457 2.5
to protect
∞ 1.0

Surface Forms

mothproof infinitive
mothproofed past
mothproofed past participle
mothproofing present participle
mothproofs third person singular

Morphology

mothproof = mothproof (transparent) = moth + proof

The verb is a zero-derivation from the adjective 'mothproof', and the meaning is straightforwardly related to being resistant to moths.

Etymology

Mothproof The verb mothproof comes from putting together moth (the insect that eats cloth) and proof (as in waterproof, meaning 'resistant to'). To mothproof something is to treat it so moths cannot 'damage' the fabric.