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mothball

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moth⋅ball

  [mawth-bawl, moth-]
Use mothball in a Sentence
–noun
1. a small ball of naphthalene or sometimes of camphor for placing in closets or other storage areas to repel moths from clothing, blankets, etc.
–verb (used with object)
2. to put into storage or reserve; inactivate.
–adjective
3. inactive; unused; stored away: a mothball fleet.
—Idiom
4. in mothballs,
a. in disuse or in storage, esp. with reference to standby equipment.
b. (of ideas) dismissed as unworthy of further deliberation.
Origin:
1905–10; moth + ball 1
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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moth·ball   (môth'bôl', mŏth'-)   
n.  

  1. A marble-sized ball, originally of camphor but now of naphthalene, stored with clothes to repel moths.

  2. mothballs

    1. A condition of long storage for possible future use: put the battleship into mothballs.

    2. A condition of being set aside or discarded: have put the plan into mothballs.

tr.v.   moth·balled, moth·ball·ing, moth·balls

  1. To remove (a ship, for example) from active service or use and put into protective storage.

  2. To defer indefinitely; shelve: mothball a project.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

mothball 
1906, naphthalene ball stored among fabrics to keep off moths, from moth + ball. The verb in the figurative sense is first recorded 1949, in ref. to retiring of U.S. warships after World War II.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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