painted lady
(redirected from Cynthia cardui)Also found in: Encyclopedia.
Related to Cynthia cardui: Vanessa cardui
painted lady
n.
1. A widely distributed butterfly (Cynthia cardui syn. Vanessa cardui) having brown, black, and orange markings.
2. A house, especially a Victorian house, having decorative trim painted in several colors.
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright © 2016 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.
painted lady
n
(Animals) a migratory nymphalid butterfly, Vanessa cardui, with pale brownish-red mottled wings
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged, 12th Edition 2014 © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2011, 2014
paint′ed la′dy
n.
a butterfly, Vanessa cardui, having brownish black and orange wings and hind wings each with four eyespots.
[1745–55]
Random House Kernerman Webster's College Dictionary, © 2010 K Dictionaries Ltd. Copyright 2005, 1997, 1991 by Random House, Inc. All rights reserved.