# laurel
## English
### Etymology

Inherited from Middle English laurer, laurel, from Anglo-Norman lorer, from Old French lorier, from Vulgar Latin *laurārius, from Latin laurus (“laurel”).

### Pronunciation

* (UK) IPA: /ˈlɒɹ.əl/, /ˈlɔːɹ.əl/
* (US) IPA: /ˈlɔɹ.əl/
* Audio (US):(file)
* Rhymes: -ɒɹəl

### Noun

laurel (countable and uncountable, plural laurels)
* Laurus nobilis, an evergreen shrub having aromatic leaves of a lanceolate shape, with clusters of small, yellowish white flowers in their axils.
** March 1920, Alice Ballantine Kirjassoff, “FORMOSA THE BEAUTIFUL”, in National Geographic Magazine‎, pages 265–6:Now large tracts of land are given over to the cultivation of the camphor laurel.
* A crown of laurel.
* (figuratively, chiefly in the plural) Honor, distinction, fame.
    to win laurels
    to crown with laurels
** 2017, Fiona Lewis, Mistakes Were Made (Some in French), Simon and Schuster, →ISBN, page 3:I was semi-famous; I had been something, but as one worthy critic remarked: past laurels fade fast.
* (botany) Any plant of the family Lauraceae.
* (botany) Any of various plants of other families that resemble laurels.
* (historical) An English gold coin made in 1619, and so called because the king's head on it was crowned with laurel.

#### Derived terms

* Alexandrian laurel
* American laurel (Kalmia latifolia)
* bat laurel
* bay laurel (Laurus nobilis)
* bog laurel
* California laurel (Umbellularia californica)
* cherry laurel
* Chilean laurel
* dog-laurel
* great laurel (Rhododendron maximum)
* Grecian laurel
* ground laurel (Epigaea repens)
* Laurel County
* laurel green
* Laurel Hill
* laurel oak
* laurel soap
* laurel sumac
* laurel water
* laurel wreath
* Macleay laurel
* mountain laurel (Kalmia latifolia)
* Mount Laurel
* New Zealand laurel
* Oregon laurel (Umbellularia californica)
* Portugal laurel (Prunus lusitanica)
* Queensland laurel
* rest on one's laurels
* rose laurel (Nerium oleander)
* sheep laurel (Kalmia angustifolia)
* sit on one's laurels
* spotted laurel (Aucuba japonica)
* spurge laurel, spurge-laurel (Daphne laureola)
* true laurel (Laurus nobilis)
* West Indian laurel

#### Translations

    The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

### Verb

laurel (third-person singular simple present laurels, present participle laureling or laurelling, simple past and past participle laureled or laurelled)
* (transitive) To decorate with laurel, especially with a laurel wreath.
** 2014, Cayden Carrico, A Nocturne of Echoes, →ISBN, page 32:Windows peered from the spaces between the columns, which rose to hold up the large portico laureling the home with chiseled, decorative wreaths and curving spirals.
* (transitive) To enwreathe.
** 2013, John Hornor Jacobs, The Twelve-Fingered Boy, →ISBN, page 161:It wasn't hot this late in the year, and the sun was low in the southern sky, bracketed by pines and nearly hidden by a tree line laureling a trailer park.
* (transitive, informal) To award top honours to.
** 1866, Archibald Fergusson, The crusher' and the Cross, page 149:In this regiment there was a young corporal, a native of Little K . He was laurelled and decorated more than many of his companions, for he excelled them all in courage, coolness, and daring. In one thing more he also excelled them — he was cruel, he was dissipated, and he was vicious in his tastes.
** 1927, John Mackinnon Robertson, Modern humanists reconsidered, page 29:Not in any vision of that order did he figure for most of the admirers who laurelled him on his eightieth birthday and the few who go on laurelling him still.
** 2010, Andrew Rawnsley, The End of the Party, →ISBN:He was laurelled in admiring headlines from both left and right.
** 2017, George William Rutler, Cloud of Witnesses: Dead People I Knew When They Were Alive, →ISBN:In 1973, the modern papist missionary was laurelled an honorary Doctor of Divinity by the institution founded by a Congregationalist missionary to the Indians of the northern wilds.

### See also

* Laurel and Hardy

### References

* “laurel”, in OneLook Dictionary Search.

### Anagrams

* allure

## Portuguese
### Etymology

Borrowed from Spanish laurel, which came from Old Occitan laurier, which was inherited from Vulgar Latin *laurārius, which was derived from Latin laurus.

### Pronunciation

* (Brazil) IPA: /lawˈɾɛw/ [laʊ̯ˈɾɛʊ̯]
* (Portugal) IPA: /lawˈɾɛl/ [lawˈɾɛɫ]
* (Portugal) IPA: /lawˈɾɛl/ [lawˈɾɛɫ]
** (Southern Portugal) IPA: /lawˈɾɛ.li/

### Noun

laurel m (plural lauréis)
* laurel
* reward, prize
    Synonym: galardão
* homage
    Synonym: homenagem
* compliment, the act of praising someone
    Synonyms: elogio, (Portugal) encómio, loa

#### Related terms

* laurear

### Further reading

* “laurel”, in Dicio – Dicionário Online de Português (in Portuguese), Porto: 7Graus, 2009–2025

## Spanish
### Etymology

Borrowed from Old Occitan laurier, which was inherited from Vulgar Latin *laurārius, which was derived from Latin laurus.

### Pronunciation

* IPA: /lauˈɾel/ [lau̯ˈɾel]
* Audio (Venezuela):(file)
* Rhymes: -el
* Syllabification: lau‧rel

### Noun

laurel m (plural laureles)
* laurel

#### Derived terms

* corona de laurel
* dormirse en los laureles
* laurel alejandrino
* laurel canario
* laurel cerezo
* laurel chileno
* laurel real
* laurel rosa
* laurel tulipán

#### Related terms

* laurear

### Further reading

* “laurel”, in Diccionario de la lengua española [Dictionary of the Spanish Language] (in Spanish), online version 23.8, Royal Spanish Academy [Spanish: Real Academia Española], 2024 December 10