[syn: small white, Pieris rapae]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
cabbage butterfly \cab"bage butterfly\ (Zool.),
a white butterfly (Pieris rap[ae] of both Europe and
America, and the allied Pieris oleracea, a native American
species) which, in the larval state, devours the leaves of
the cabbage and the turnip. See also Cabbage worm, below.
[1913 Webster] cabbage worm
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
cabbage worm \cab"bage worm`\, cabbageworm \cab"bage*worm`\n.
(Zool.),
the larva of several species of moths and butterflies, which
attacks cabbages. The most common is the toxic green larva of
a white butterfly, the cabbage butterfly, (Pieris
rap[ae]). The cabbage cutworms, which eat off the stalks of
young plants during the night, are the larv[ae] of several
species of moths, of the genus Agrotis. See Cutworm.
larva of a cabbage butterfly.
[WordNet 1.5]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
Pieris rapae
n 1: toxic green larva of a cabbage butterfly [syn:
cabbageworm, Pieris rapae]
2: small widely distributed form [syn: small white, Pieris
rapae]