mothball

• moth ball
• moth-ball

moth +‎ ball

• (UK) IPA^(key): /mɒθbɔːl/

• Audio (Southern England)

  (file)

mothball (plural mothballs)

1. (usually in the plural) A small ball of chemical pesticide (typically naphthalene) and deodorant placed in or around clothing and other articles susceptible to damage from mold or moth larvae in order to protect them from this damage.

• in mothballs (“kept in good condition for later use”)
• mothbally

mothball (third-person singular simple present mothballs, present participle mothballing, simple past and past participle mothballed)

1. (transitive) To store or shelve something no longer used.

   Synonyms: store, shelve, set aside, defer

   They mothballed the old version after the new one came out.

   • December 13 2021, Molly Ball, Jeffrey Kluger, Alejandro de la Garza, “Elon Musk: Person of the Year 2021”, in Time Magazine‎:

     Before Musk, America’s space industry was moribund. In 2011, NASA mothballed the last space shuttle, after inking a deal with SpaceX to make uncrewed cargo resupply runs to the International Space Station (ISS).

2. (transitive, figuratively) To stop using (something), but keep it in good condition.
   • 2014 September 23, A teacher, “Choosing a primary school: a teacher's guide for parents”, in The Guardian:

     Some schools might have an art studio, an area of forestry in the playground, or a performance stage in the hall – all exceptional assets. Just check they get plenty of use and aren't mothballed while the school concentrates on (you guessed it) maths and literacy.

   • 2021 March 10, Paul Shannon, “Freight's new gateways score highly on location and layout”, in RAIL, number 926, page 34:

     In the short term NR could well mothball the line given its lack of traffic.

• demothball
• unmothball

• mothballed
• mothballer

• mothball on Wikipedia.Wikipedia
• “mothball”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.