Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Vanessa

Vanessa (van*es"sȧ) , noun

[Probably from Swift's poem of Cadenus and Vanessa. See Vanessa, in the Dictionary of Noted Names in Fiction.]

(Zoology) Any one of numerous species of handsomely colored butterflies belonging to Vanessa and allied genera. Many of these species have the edges of the wings irregularly scalloped.