heliotrope
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈhiː.li.ə.tɹəʊp/
ipa: /ˈhɛ-/
ipa: /-lɪ.əʊ-/
ipa: /ˈhi.li.əˌtɹoʊp/
Forms: form: heliotropes
Etymology: PIE word
 *sóh₂wl̥
The noun is borrowed from French héliotrope, from Latin hēliotropium (“plant which turns to face the sun; bloodstone”), from Ancient Greek ἡλῐοτρόπῐον (hēlĭotrópĭon, “European heliotrope (Heliotropium europaeum); bloodstone; solar clock, sundial”), from ἥλῐος (hḗlĭos, “the sun”) (ultimately from Proto-Indo-European *sóh₂wl̥ (“the sun”)) + τρόπος (trópos, “a turn”) (from τρέπω (trépō, “to rotate; to turn”) (from Proto-Indo-European *trep- (“to turn”)) + -ος (-os, suffix forming nouns from verbs)) + -ῐον (-ĭon, diminutive suffix forming nouns).
The French-derived spelling displaced Middle English elitrope, eliotropius, elitropium (“plant which turns to face the sun; bloodstone”) [and other forms], from Old English eliotropus, from Latin hēliotropium (see above); and Old English siġelhweorfa, sōlsece, and sunnfolgend (“heliotrope flower”).
Sense 6 (“synonym of bloodstone”) is from the fact that a piece of the mineral placed in water is said to change the sun’s rays to a blood-red colour: see the 1601 quotation.
The adjective is probably derived from the noun.
Senses: examples: text: In the Opale, there be obſerved alſo divers blemiſhes and imperfections as vvell as in other ſtones; namely, if the colour reſemble the floure of that hearbe vvhich is called Heliotropium, id eſt, Turneſole:[…]
ref: [1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXXVII.] Of the Pretious Stone Opalus, and All the Sundrie Kinds. The Faults in Them and the Means to Trie which be Good. Also Divers Sorts of Other Gems and Pretious Stones.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 614:
text: Lac[o]. Theſe forked tricks, I vnderſtand 'hem not. / VVould he vvould tell vs vvhome he loues, or hates, / That vve might follovv, vvithout feare, or doubt. / Arr[untius]. Good Heliotrope! Is this your honeſt man? / Let him be yours ſo ſtill. He is my knaue.
ref: 1603 (first performance), Ben[jamin] Jonson, Seianus His Fall, London: […] G[eorge] Elld, for Thomas Thorpe, published 1605, →OCLC, Act IV, signature [I4], verso:
text: AGRYPNIA, or Vigilance, […] her chaplet of Heliotropium, or turneſole; in her one hand a lampe, or creſſet, in her other a bell. The lampe ſignified ſearch and ſight, the bell vvarning. The Heliotropium care; and reſpecting her obiect.
ref: [1604 March 25 (first performance; Gregorian calendar; published 1604), Beniamin Ionson [i.e., Ben Jonson], “Part of the Kings Entertainment in Passing to His Coronation [The Coronation Triumph]”, in The Workes of Beniamin Ionson (First Folio), London: […] Will[iam] Stansby, published 1616, →OCLC, pages 846–847:
text: Cordials. […] Flovvers of Heliotrope, […]
ref: a. 1627 (date written), Francis Bacon, “[Baconiana Medica. […].] A Catalogue of Astringents, Openers, and Cordials, Instrumental to Health. […]”, in [Thomas Tenison], editor, Baconiana. Or Certain Genuine Remains of Sr. Francis Bacon, […], London: […] J. D. for Richard Chiswell, […], published 1679, →OCLC, page 166:
text: Flovvers in Prime, or yet laſting. […] Star-vvort, Heliotrop, French Mary-gold, […]
ref: 1664, J[ohn] E[velyn], “Kalendarium Hortense: Or, The Gard’ners Almanac; […] [August.]”, in Sylva, or A Discourse of Forest-trees and the Propagation of Timber in His Majesties Dominions. […], London: […] Jo[hn] Martyn, and Ja[mes] Allestry, printers to the Royal Society, […], →OCLC, page 73:
text: [S]till as on the night before, slouched Ahab stood fixed within his scuttle; his hid, heliotrope glance anticipatingly gone backward on its dial; sat due eastward for the earliest sun.
ref: 1851 November 14, Herman Melville, “The Chase—Second Day”, in Moby-Dick; or, The Whale, 1st American edition, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers; London: Richard Bentley, →OCLC, page 621:
topics: biology
botany
natural-sciences
synonyms: word: heliotropian
word: turnsole
glosses: A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.
examples: text: As they entered now, it seemed a blaze of roses and carnations, though one recognised in a moment the presence of the lily, the heliotrope, and the stock.
ref: 1870, B[enjamin] Disraeli, chapter XXIX, in Lothair. […], volume III, London: Longmans, Green, and Co., →OCLC, page 326:
text: Here's newyearspray, the posquiflor, a windaborne and heliotrope; there miriamsweet and amaranth and marygold to crown.
ref: 1939 May 4, James Joyce, Finnegans Wake, London: Faber and Faber Limited, →OCLC; republished London: Faber & Faber Limited, 1960, →OCLC, part III, page 561:
topics: biology
botany
natural-sciences
synonyms: word: heliotropian
word: turnsole
word: cherry pie
word: garden heliotrope
glosses: A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.
A plant of the genus Heliotropium, especially the common heliotrope (Heliotropium arborescens) which has clusters of purple flowers with a strong fragrance.
topics: biology
botany
natural-sciences
synonyms: word: heliotropian
word: turnsole
glosses: A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.
With a qualifying word: any of various plants resembling those of the genus Heliotropium.
examples: text: He had lost his affable smile, and wore a look of almost military resolution; […] he had always smelt so much more of heliotrope than of gunpowder.
ref: 1881, Henry James, Jr., chapter XLIII, in The Portrait of a Lady, New York, N.Y.: Houghton, Mifflin and Company […], →OCLC, page 381:
text: Ransacking the drawers of the dresser he came upon a discarded, tiny, ragged handkerchief. He pressed it to his face. It was racy and insolent with heliotrope; he hurled it to the floor.
ref: 1906 April, O. Henry [pseudonym; William Sydney Porter], “The Furnished Room”, in The Four Million, New York, N.Y.: McClure, Phillips & Co, →OCLC, page 246:
glosses: The fragrance of Heliotropium arborescens flowers, or a scent resembling this fragrance.
examples: text: Kit woke to see looming over him the face of Dr. Willi Dingkopf, framed by a haircut in violation of more than one law of physics, and a vivid necktie in fuchsia, heliotrope, and duck green, a gift from one of the patients, […]
ref: 2006, Thomas Pynchon, “Bilocations”, in Against the Day, New York, N.Y.: Penguin Press, →ISBN, page 623:
glosses: A light purple or violet colour like that of Heliotropium arborescens flowers.
synonyms: word: sematrope
word: helio
glosses: An instrument that uses a mirror to reflect sunlight for purposes such as signalling, or (surveying) triangulation (where the reflected light is detected by another surveyor positioned some distance away).
glosses: An ancient type of sundial consisting of a bowl with a perpendicular gnomon mounted in the centre.
examples: text: The pretious ſtone Heliotropium, is found in Æthiopia, Affricke, and Cyprus: the ground thereof is a deepe greene in manner of a leeke, but the ſame is garniſhed vvith veins of bloud: the reaſon of the name Heliotropium is this, For that if it be throvvne into a paile of vvater, it chaungeth the raies of the Sun by vvay of reverberation into a bloudie colour, eſpecially that vvhich commeth out of Æthiopia: the ſame beeing vvithout the vvater, doth repreſent the bodie of the Sun, like unto a mirroir:[…]
ref: [1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “[Book XXXVII.] Of Certaine Gems Digested in Order According to the Alphabet.”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], 2nd tome, London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC, page 627:
text: Amid this dread exuberance of woe / Ran naked spirits wing'd with horrid fear, / Nor hope had they of crevice where to hide, / Or heliotrope to charm them out of view.
ref: 1814, Dante Alighieri, “Canto XXIV”, in H[enry] F[rancis] Cary, transl., The Vision; or, Hell, Purgatory, and Paradise, of Dante Alighieri. […], volume I (Hell), London: […] [J. Barfield] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, page 104, lines 89–92:
topics: chemistry
geography
geology
mineralogy
natural-sciences
physical-sciences
glosses: Synonym of bloodstone (“a green chalcedony that is sprinkled with red spots or veins of hematite”).
synonyms: word: bloodstone
extra: a green chalcedony that is sprinkled with red spots or veins of hematite
Hyponyms: taxonomic: Heliotropium anomalum
word: hinahina
Derived terms: word: blue heliotrope
word: clasping heliotrope
word: false heliotrope
taxonomic: Heliotropium amplexicaule
word: summer heliotrope
taxonomic: Heliotropium arborescens
word: common heliotrope
taxonomic: Heliotropium europaeum
word: European heliotrope
alt: Heliotropium arborescens or Valeriana officinalis
word: garden heliotrope
word: helio
word: heliotroper
word: heliotropian
word: heliotropin
taxonomic: Heliotropium indicum
word: Indian heliotrope
taxonomic: Petasites pyrenaicus
word: winter heliotrope
Related terms: word: heliotropian
word: heliotropic
word: heliotropism
word: heliotropy
word: sunward