a small pellet of a pungent substance, typically naphthalene, put in among stored garments to keep away clothes moths.
verb
[with object]
1store (clothes) with mothballs.
2stop using (a piece of equipment or a building) but keep it in good condition so that it can readily be used again:it would cost the company a lot of money just to mothball the mine (as adjective mothballed)mothballed ships from World War II
cancel or postpone work on (a plan or project):plans to invest in four superstores have been mothballed
Phrases
in mothballs
unused but kept in good condition for future use:it was no use keeping aircraft in mothballs without fully trained crews to fly them
mothball in other Oxford dictionaries
Definition of mothball in the US English dictionary
