daffodil
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈdæfəˌdɪl/
Forms: form: daffodils
form: affodill
form: daffadil
Etymology: Variant of Middle English affodill (“ramson”), from Medieval Latin affodillus, from Latin asphodelus, from Ancient Greek ἀσφόδελος (asphódelos), of Pre-Greek origin. The initial d- is perhaps from merging of the article in Dutch de affodil, the Netherlands being a source for bulbs (compare adder, apron, newt, nickname, orange and umpire for this rebracketing process). Doublet of asphodel.
Senses: examples: text: When daffadils begin to peere, / With heigh the Doxy ouer the dale, / Why then comes in the ſweet o’ the yeere, / For the red blood raigns in yͤ winters pale.
ref: c. 1610–1611 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Winters Tale”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene iii], page 290, column 1:
text: I wandered lonely as a Cloud / That floats on high o’er Vales and Hills, / When all at once I saw a crowd / A host of dancing Daffodills; / Along the Lake, beneath the trees, / Ten thousand dancing in the breeze.
ref: 1807, William Wordsworth, “[I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud]”, in Poems, in Two Volumes, volume II, London: […] Longman, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, […], →OCLC, stanza 1, page 49:
text: Was there ever a more beautiful name in the world than daffodil? Say it over to yourself, and then say “agapanthus” or “chrysanthemum,” or anything else you please, and tell me if the daffodils do not have it.
ref: 1919 November 20, A[lan] A[lexander] Milne, “Daffodils”, in Not That It Matters, New York, N.Y.: E[dward] P[ayson] Dutton & Company […], published 1920, →OCLC, page 82:
text: As us fairy folks sweep from the hill
 Never caught us and never will
 Pulling roses and daffodils
 Mayhem in the high degree.
ref: 1988, “Mayhem Maybe”, in Ian Anderson (music), 20 Years of Jethro Tull, performed by Jethro Tull:
glosses: A bulbous plant of the genus Narcissus, with yellow flowers and a trumpet shaped corona, especially Narcissus pseudonarcissus, the national flower of Wales.
examples: text: Where ships of purple gently toss / On seas of daffodil, / Fantastic sailors mingle, / And then—the wharf is still.
ref: a. 1887 (date written), Emily Dickinson, “Where Ships of purple gently toss”, in Mabel Loomis Todd and T[homas] W[entworth] Higginson, editors, Poems, Second Series, Boston, Mass.: Roberts Brothers, published 1891, page 11:
glosses: A brilliant yellow color, like that of a daffodil.
Coordinate terms: sense: flower
word: asphodel
sense: flower
english: Hippeastrum
translation: Hippeastrum
word: hippeastrum
sense: flower
word: jonquil
sense: flower
word: Lent lily
sense: flower
word: star grass
Derived terms: taxonomic: Narcissus tazetta
word: bunch-flowered daffodil
taxonomic: Fritillaria spp.
word: checkered daffodil
word: daffodil telephone
taxonomic: Narcissus bulbocodum
word: hoop-petticoat daffodil
taxonomic: Narcissus jonquilla
word: lily daffodil
taxonomic: Ipsea malabarica
word: Malabar daffodil orchid
taxonomic: Narcissus papyraceus
word: paper-white daffodil
word: Peruvian daffodil
taxonomic: Narcissus poeticus
word: poet's daffodil
word: rush daffodil
taxonomic: Narcissus jonquilla
word: rush-leaved daffodil
taxonomic: Pancratium maritimum
word: sea daffodil
alt: Narcissis pseudonarcissus
word: wild daffodil
word: winter daffodil Sternbergia lutea
Related terms: daff