Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

mothball

1 noun
     
Related topics: Household
moth‧ball1 [countable usually plural]
1DH a small ball made of a strong-smelling chemical, used for keeping moths away from clothes
2

in/into mothballs

kept but not used for a long time:
With the end of the Cold War, several warships were put into mothballs.
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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