flower
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈflaʊ.ə/
ipa: /ˈflaʊ.ɚ/
rhymes: -aʊ.ə(ɹ)
ipa: /flaː(r)/
ipa: /flɐ.ʋə(r)/
ipa: /flɐ.wə(r)/
homophone: flour (for people who pronounce flower as one syllable, or flour as two)
Forms: form: flowers
form: flowre
form: flow'r
Etymology: From Middle English flour, from Anglo-Norman flur, from Latin flōrem, accusative of flōs, from Proto-Italic *flōs, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃- (“to thrive, bloom”). Doublet of fleur, flor, flour, bloom, and blossom.
Partly displaced native Old English blostma (which is cognate), whence Modern English blossom.
Senses: examples: text: O Laurinella! little doſt thou wot / How fraile a flower thou doſt ſo highly prize: / Beauty's the flower, but love the flower-pot / That muſt preſerve it, els it quickly dyes.
ref: 1653, William Basse, “Clio, or The First Muse; in 9 Eglogues in Honor of 9 Vertues. As It was in His Dayes Intended. [Munday. Laurinella. Eglogue. Of True and Chast Love.]”, in J[ohn] P[ayne] C[ollier], editor, The Pastorals and Other Workes of William Basse. […] (Miscellaneous Tracts, Temp. Eliz. & Jac. I), [London: s.n.], published 1870, →OCLC:
text: The flowers glowed red and golden: snapdragons and sunflowers, and nasturtians trailing all over the turf walls and peeping in at the round windows.
ref: 1954 July 29, J[ohn] R[onald] R[euel] Tolkien, “A Long-Expected Party”, in The Fellowship of the Ring: Being the First Part of The Lord of the Rings, London: George Allen & Unwin, →OCLC:
glosses: A colorful, conspicuous structure associated with angiosperms, frequently scented and attracting various insects, and which may or may not be used for sexual reproduction.
examples: text: You know, Darwin studied their fertilisation, and showed that the whole structure of an ordinary orchid flower was contrived in order that moths might carry the pollen from plant to plant.
ref: 1894, H. G. Wells, The Flowering of the Strange Orchid:
topics: biology
botany
natural-sciences
glosses: A reproductive structure in angiosperms (flowering plants), often conspicuously colourful and typically including sepals, petals, and either or both stamens and/or a pistil.
examples: text: We transplanted the flowers to a larger pot.
glosses: A plant that bears flowers, especially a plant that is small and lacks wood.
examples: text: He always keeps a vase full of flowers in his office.
glosses: The stem of a flowering plant with the blossom or blossoms attached, used for decoration, as a gift, etc.
examples: text: The dogwoods are in flower this week.
glosses: Of plants, a state of bearing blooms.
raw_tags: with in
examples: text: [F]or ſtill, that my virgin-flower was yet uncrop'd never once enter'd into his head, and he would have thought it idling with time and words to have queſtion'd me upon it.
ref: 1749, [John Cleland], “(Please specify the letter or volume)”, in Memoirs of a Woman of Pleasure [Fanny Hill], London: […] [Thomas Parker] for G. Fenton [i.e., Fenton and Ralph Griffiths] […], →OCLC, page 106:
english: Fanny Hill
translation: Fanny Hill
text: So was it asserted, that whenever a maiden was destined to die unmarried, as surely would the plant wither away and perish, and if a dughter of the Renseccos lost her honour or had given away her flower to an unworthy lover, then would the flower be blighted overnight.
ref: 1893, Emily Gerard, The Voice of a Flower, page 44:
text: In some local tradditions a fallen bride was married wearing a crown of straw rather than a garland of flowers, to symbolize her loss of virginity – the wilting of her flower.
ref: 2018, Satu Lidman, Gender, Violence and Attitudes: Lessons from Early Modern Europe:
text: "Our flesh as one!" he laughed, speaking loudly. "Sweating bodies entwined in carnal passion! As I plunge myself deep into her lady flower, again and again and again— !"
ref: 2019, Shaun Barger, Mage Against the Machine, page 146:
glosses: The vulva, especially the labia majora.
examples: text: At Floddon hyllys, / Our bowys, our byllys / Slew all the floure / Of theyr honoure.
ref: 1513, John Skelton, Agaynst the Scottes; republished in John Scattergood, editor, John Skelton: The Complete English Poems, 1983, →OCLC, page 116, lines 25–28:
text: The choice and flower of all things profitable the Psalms do more briefly contain.
ref: 1594–1597, Richard Hooker, edited by J[ohn] S[penser], Of the Lawes of Ecclesiastical Politie, […], London: […] Will[iam] Stansby [for Matthew Lownes], published 1611, →OCLC, (please specify the page):
text: the flower of the chivalry of all Spain
ref: 1808, Robert Southey, Chronicle of the Cid, from the Spanish:
text: In times of peace, so clean and bright, / And with a new-washed morning face, / He walked Pall Mall, a goodly sight, / The finished flower of all the race.
ref: 1915, Katharine Tynan, The Golden Boy:
glosses: The best examples or representatives of a group.
examples: text: She was in the flower of her life.
text: A simple maiden in her flower / Is worth a hundred coats-of-arms.
ref: 1842, Alfred Tennyson, “Lady Clara Vere de Vere”, in Poems. […], volume I, London: Edward Moxon, […], →OCLC, stanza 2, page 156:
text: NO lady fair in hall or bower, / In days when knighthood was in flower, / Or high-born dame with jewels set, / Or Tudor or Plantagenet, / E’er wore enwreath’d on form and face / Thy royal robe of richest grace.
ref: 1899, James [Mackintosh] Kennedy, “To Queen Alexandra”, in The Scottish and American Poems of James Kennedy, J[ohn] S[tuart] Ogilvie Publishing Company, […], page 197:
glosses: The best state of things; the prime.
examples: text: The Flovvers of Grains mix'd vvith VVater vvill make a ſort of Glue.
ref: 1731, John Arbuthnot, “Of the Different Intentions to be Pursued in the Choice of Aliment in Different Constitutions”, in An Essay Concerning the Nature of Aliments, and the Choice of Them, According to the Different Constitutions of Human Bodies. […], London: […] J[acob] Tonson […], →OCLC, prop[osition] VII, page 185:
glosses: Flour.
examples: text: the flowers of sulphur
text: Exposed to a moderate fire in subliming pots, [brimstone] rises all into dry, and almost tasteless, flowers; whereas being exposed to a naked fire, it affords store of a saline and fretting liquor.
ref: 1661, Robert Boyle, “(please specify the page)”, in The Sceptical Chymist: or Chymico-physical Doubts & Paradoxes, […], London: […] J. Cadwell for J. Crooke, […], →OCLC:
topics: chemistry
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: A substance in the form of a powder, especially when condensed from sublimation.
glosses: A figure of speech; an ornament of style.
examples: text: I pointed out to the late Mr. Catherwood, of the firm of Caslon and Catherwood, the inconvenience of both these modes of cutting flowers,
ref: 1841, William Savage, A Dictionary of the Art of Printing:
topics: media
printing
publishing
glosses: Ornamental type used chiefly for borders around pages, cards, etc.
examples: text: And if any man lye with her at all, and her flowers be vpon him, hee shall be vncleane seuen dayes: and all the bed whereon he lyeth, shall be vncleane.
ref: 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Leviticus 15:24:
glosses: Menstrual discharges.
examples: text: […] she whispered leaning over and kissing her forehead; and then added, 'Mummy loves you, precious flower.'
ref: 2015, Sally Chiwuzie, Silent Symphonies:
text: “Take care of yourself out there, Brown, you delicate flower.”
ref: 2016, Barbara Ann Wright, Paladins of the Storm Lord:
text: “Come on, you delicate flower, we just need to nap. It will be fine.”
ref: 2021, Alica McKenna-Johnson, The Unicorn's Scion:
glosses: A delicate, fragile, or oversensitive person.
examples: text: to give someone his flowers; to get one's flowers
text: It has been my desire to find a way to express my gratitude to these women for quite some time but I really did not know how to give them their flowers as a method to tell them thanks.
ref: 2010, M. Joyce Dickerson, A Tribute to 101 Incredible Women of Distinction Who Influenced My Life From My House to the White House:
text: I was able to give Coach Bryant his flowers while he was alive, and I have always been thankful I was able to do that.
ref: 2011, Tommy Hicks, Game of My Life Alabama Crimson Tide, page 149:
text: Gonzalo managed to fake a smile. When will anyone ever give him his flowers? His hard work kept him and his kingdom this far. Wasn't anyone going to acknowledge the fact?
ref: 2023, Torry Smith, Alpha's Unexpected Luna:
text: Sabrina Carpenter is, finally, getting her flowers. Ever since demurely (I don't use that word lightly!!!) performing what would become the song of 2024 as part of her Coachella set—no, literally, "Espresso" just won the MTV Video Music Award for Song of the Year—all eyes have been on 'Brina.
ref: 2024 September 21, Heath Owens, “What to Wear to Sabrina Carpenter's 'Short N' Sweet' Tour”, in Cosmopolitan:
glosses: Credit, recognition.
glosses: Cannabis.
Synonyms: sense: inflorescence that resembles a flower
word: head
sense: inflorescence that resembles a flower
word: pseudanthium
sense: best examples
word: cream
sense: best state of things
word: prime
word: bloom
word: blossom
word: flower
Hypernyms: word: plant
Hyponyms: word: floret
word: floweret
Meronyms: word: ovary
word: pedicel
word: petal
word: pistil
word: receptaculum
word: sepal
word: stamen
word: stigma
word: style
Derived terms: animal flower
arcigera flower moth
Bach flower remedy
Bach flower therapy
ball-flower
ball flower
balloon flower
basketflower
bat flower
beflower
bellflower
Bill Gates' flower fly
blanket flower
blanketflower
bone-eating snot flower worm
breeches-flower
brimstone flower
bunchflower
burst into flower
butter flower
cardinal flower
carrion flower
Chihuahua flower
chocolate flower
Christmas flower
composite flower
coneflower
cone flower
cone-flower
corkscrew flower
cornflower
crowflower
crown flower
cuckooflower
cupflower
dayflower
Easter flower
egg flower soup
elderflower
electric flower car
enflower
everlasting flower
fanflower
fennelflower
fennel-flower
firecracker flower
flameflower
flamingo flower
flannel flower
flowerage
flower arrangement
flower-bearing
flower bed
flower beetle
flower bond
flower box
flower bug
flower car
flower chafer
flower child
flower clock
flower cluster
flower crown
flower delice
flower-de-luce
flower deluce
flowerer
flower-fence
flower-fly
flower fly
flowerful
flower garden
flower-gentle
flower head
flower hoe
flowerhorn
flowerkind
flowerless
flowerlet
flowerlike
flower longhorn
flowerly
flower mantis
flower moon
flower moth
Flower Mound
flowerness
flower-of-an-hour
flower of Jove
flower of the flock
flowerpecker
flower-petal
flower petal
flowerpicking
flowerpiece
flowerpiercer
flower power
flower service
flower sticks
flower-strewn
flower-sweet
flower wall
flower water
flower weevil
foamflower
four-o'clock flower
four o'clock flower
frost flower
gallflower
gall flower
ghostflower
gilli-flower
gilly-flower
globeflower
handflower
honey flower
hothouse flower
incomplete flower
in flower
inside-out flower
in the flower of one's youth
Joseph's flower
July-flower
laceflower
lantern flower
largeflower
leopard flower
luxuriant flower
mayflower
mistflower
moccasin flower
monkeyflower
monkey-flower
moonflower
muskflower
nanoflower
noonflower
noon-flower
orange flower water
overflower
pagoda flower
paper flower
paperflower
paschal flower
pasque flower
Passionflower
Passion flower
passion-flower
passion flower
Paul Allen's flower fly
peacock flower
pelican flower
pencil flower
pineapple flower
pinkster flower
polyflower
pompon flower
popcorn flower
porcupine flower
preflower
prickly chaff flower
prison flower
pseudoflower
red cardinal flower
Redflower
red flower
red princess flower
reflower
revolver flower
rice flower
Rogation-flower
satinflower
savanna flower
savannah flower
shellflower
shoe flower
side-saddle flower
skyflower
sleep-flower
sleep flower
slipper flower
snailflower
spider flower
spoonflower
spurflower
starfish flower
starflower
state flower
strawflower
sulphurflower
tiger flower
treasure flower
trigger flower
troll-flower
trumpet flower
Tudor flower
twinflower
unflower
united flower
upflower
velvet flower
Venus' flower basket
Venus's flower basket
wall flower
wallflower
wall-flower
waxflower
wax flower
windflower
wishbone flower
wood-shaving flower
Related terms: word: Appendix:Flowers