FLOWER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does flower mean? 

• FLOWER (noun)
  The noun FLOWER has 3 senses:

1. a plant cultivated for its blooms or blossoms

2. reproductive organ of angiosperm plants especially one having showy or colorful parts

3. the period of greatest prosperity or productivity

  Familiarity information: FLOWER used as a noun is uncommon.

• FLOWER (verb)
  The verb FLOWER has 1 sense:

1. produce or yield flowers

  Familiarity information: FLOWER used as a verb is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• FLOWER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A plant cultivated for its blooms or blossoms

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Hypernyms ("flower" is a kind of...):

angiosperm; flowering plant (plants having seeds in a closed ovary)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "flower"):

bloomer (a flower that blooms in a particular way)

paeony; peony (any of numerous plants widely cultivated for their showy single or double red or pink or white flowers)

lesser celandine; pilewort; Ranunculus ficaria (perennial herb native to Europe but naturalized elsewhere having heart-shaped leaves and yellow flowers resembling buttercups; its tuberous roots have been used as a poultice to relieve piles)

Adonis annua; pheasant's-eye (Eurasian herb cultivated for its deep red flowers with dark centers)

anemone; windflower (any woodland plant of the genus Anemone grown for its beautiful flowers and whorls of dissected leaves)

Anemonella thalictroides; rue anemone (woodland flower native to eastern North America having cup-shaped flowers reminiscent of anemone but more delicate)

aquilege; aquilegia; columbine (a plant of the genus Aquilegia having irregular showy spurred flowers; north temperate regions especially mountains)

Consolida ambigua; Delphinium ajacis; rocket larkspur (commonly cultivated larkspur of southern Europe having unbranched spikelike racemes of blue or sometimes purplish or pinkish flowers; sometime placed in genus Delphinium)

delphinium (any plant of the genus Delphinium having palmately divided leaves and showy spikes of variously colored spurred flowers; some contain extremely poisonous substances)

nigella (any plant of the genus Nigella)

peace lily; spathe flower; spathiphyllum (any of various plants of the genus Spathiphyllum having a white or green spathe and a spike of fragrant flowers and often cultivated as an ornamental)

arum lily; calla; calla lily; Zantedeschia aethiopica (South African plant widely cultivated for its showy pure white spathe and yellow spadix)

sandwort (low-growing chiefly perennial plant usually with small white flowers suitable for e.g. rock gardens)

garden pink; pink (any of various flowers of plants of the genus Dianthus cultivated for their fragrant flowers)

babies'-breath; baby's breath; Gypsophila paniculata (tall plant with small lance-shaped leaves and numerous tiny white or pink flowers)

catchfly; lychnis (mostly perennial herbs with sticky stems that catch insects; widespread in north temperate zone)

Moehringia lateriflora; sandwort (low-growing herb having clusters of small white four-petaled flowers)

Moehringia mucosa; sandwort (loosely matted plant with moss-like foliage studded with tiny starry four-petaled white blossoms; mountains of central and southern Europe)

bouncing Bess; bouncing Bet; hedge pink; Saponaria officinalis; soapwort (plant of European origin having pink or white flowers and leaves yielding a detergent when bruised)

campion; catchfly; silene (any plant of the genus Silene)

cow cockle; cowherb; Saponaria vaccaria; Vaccaria hispanica; Vaccaria pyramidata (European annual with pale rose-colored flowers; cultivated flower or self-sown grainfield weed; introduced in North America; sometimes classified as a soapwort)

fig marigold; pebble plant (any of several South African plants of the genus Mesembryanthemum cultivated for showy pink or white flowers)

bachelor's button; globe amaranth; Gomphrena globosa (tropical American herb having rose to red or purple flowers that can be dried without losing color)

Nyctaginia capitata; scarlet musk flower (viscid branched perennial of the southwestern United States and northern Mexico having tuberous roots and deep red flowers)

umbrellawort (a plant of the genus Mirabilis)

four o'clock (any of several plants of the genus Mirabilis having flowers that open in late afternoon)

portulaca (a plant of the genus Portulaca having pink or red or purple or white ephemeral flowers)

Carolina spring beauty; Claytonia caroliniana (similar to Claytonia virginica but having usually pink flowers; eastern North America)

Clatonia lanceolata; spring beauty (small slender plant having one pair of succulent leaves at the middle of the stem and a loose raceme of white or pink or rose bowl-shaped flowers and an edible corm)

Claytonia virginica; Virginia spring beauty (small cormous perennial grown for its low rosette of succulent foliage and racemes of pink-tinged white flowers; eastern North America)

Cheiranthus cheiri; Erysimum cheiri; wallflower (perennial of southern Europe having clusters of fragrant flowers of all colors especially yellow and orange; often naturalized on old walls or cliffs; sometimes placed in genus Erysimum)

prairie rocket (any of several western American plants of the genus Cheiranthus having large yellow flowers)

wallflower (any of numerous plants of the genus Erysimum having fragrant yellow or orange or brownish flowers)

prairie rocket (any of several North American plants of the genus Erysimum having large yellow flowers)

Cheiranthus asperus; Erysimum arkansanum; Erysimum asperum; western wall flower (biennial or short-lived perennial prairie rocket having orange-yellow flowers; western North America to Minnesota and Kansas; sometimes placed in genus Cheiranthus)

heliophila (any of various South African herbs and subshrubs cultivated for long showy racemes of bright blue flowers with white eyes)

damask violet; Dame's violet; Hesperis matronalis; sweet rocket (long cultivated herb having flowers whose scent is more pronounced in the evening; naturalized throughout Europe to Siberia and into North America)

candytuft (any of various flowering plants of the genus Iberis cultivated for their showy clusters of white to red or purple flowers; native to Mediterranean region)

Lobularia maritima; sweet alison; sweet alyssum (perennial European plant having clusters of small fragrant usually white flowers; widely grown in gardens)

Malcolm stock; stock (any of various ornamental flowering plants of the genus Malcolmia)

Malcolmia maritima; Virginia stock; Virginian stock (erect branching herb cultivated for its loose racemes of fragrant white or pink or red or lilac flowers; native to sands and sea cliffs of southwestern Greece and southern Albania)

gillyflower; stock (any of several Old World plants cultivated for their brightly colored flowers)

schizopetalon; Schizopetalon walkeri (a dainty South American annual having deeply pinnatifid leaves and racemes of fringed almond-scented purple-white flowers)

poppy (annual or biennial or perennial herbs having showy flowers)

corydalis (a plant of the genus Corydalis with beautiful compound foliage and spurred tubular flowers)

Glaucium flavum; horn poppy; horned poppy; sea poppy; yellow horned poppy (yellow-flowered Eurasian glaucous herb naturalized in along sandy shores in eastern North America)

composite; composite plant (considered the most highly evolved dicotyledonous plants, characterized by florets arranged in dense heads that resemble single flowers)

ageratum (any plant of the genus Ageratum having opposite leaves and small heads of blue or white flowers)

Amberboa moschata; Centaurea moschata; sweet sultan (Asian plant widely grown for its sweetly fragrant pink flowers; sometimes placed in genus Centaurea)

ammobium (any plant of the genus Ammobium having yellow flowers and silvery foliage)

African daisy (any of several plants of the genus Arctotis having daisylike flowers)

Arctotis stoechadifolia; Arctotis venusta; blue-eyed African daisy (bushy perennial of South Africa with white or violet flowers; in its native region often clothes entire valley sides in a sheet of color)

aster (any of various chiefly fall-blooming herbs of the genus Aster with showy daisylike flowers)

daisy (any of numerous composite plants having flower heads with well-developed ray flowers usually arranged in a single whorl)

Brachycome Iberidifolia; Swan River daisy (western Australian annual much cultivated for its flower heads with white or bluish to violet or variegated rays)

calendula (any of numerous chiefly annual herbs of the genus Calendula widely cultivated for their yellow or orange flowers; often used for medicinal and culinary purposes)

Callistephus chinensis; China aster (valued for their beautiful flowers in a wide range of clear bright colors; grown primarily for cutting)

catananche (any of several plants of the genus Catananche having long-stalked heads of blue or yellow flowers)

bachelor's button; bluebottle; Centaurea cyanus; cornflower (an annual Eurasian plant cultivated in North America having showy heads of blue or purple or pink or white flowers)

Centaurea imperialis; sweet sultan (perennial of mountains of Iran and Iraq; cultivated for its fragrant rose-pink flowers)

chrysanthemum (any of numerous perennial Old World herbs having showy brightly colored flower heads of the genera Chrysanthemum, Argyranthemum, Dendranthema, Tanacetum; widely cultivated)

ageratum; Conoclinium coelestinum; Eupatorium coelestinum; mist-flower; mistflower (rhizomatous plant of central and southeastern United States and West Indies having large showy heads of clear blue flowers; sometimes placed in genus Eupatorium)

cosmea; cosmos (any of various mostly Mexican herbs of the genus Cosmos having radiate heads of variously colored flowers and pinnate leaves; popular fall-blooming annuals)

brass buttons; Cotula coronopifolia (South African herb with golden-yellow globose flower heads; naturalized in moist areas along coast of California; cultivated as an ornamental)

billy buttons (any of various plants of the genus Craspedia grown for their downy foliage and globose heads of golden flowers; Australia and New Zealand)

dahlia; Dahlia pinnata (any of several plants of or developed from the species Dahlia pinnata having tuberous roots and showy rayed variously colored flower heads; native to the mountains of Mexico and Central America and Colombia)

cape marigold; star of the veldt; sun marigold (any of several South African plants grown for the profusion of usually yellow daisylike flowers and mounds of aromatic foliage)

coneflower (any of various perennials of the eastern United States having thick rough leaves and long-stalked showy flowers with drooping rays and a conelike center)

blue daisy; blue marguerite; Felicia amelloides (hairy South African or Australian subshrub that has daisylike flowers with blue rays)

Felicia bergeriana; kingfisher daisy (softly hairy South African herb having flowers with bright blue rays)

cotton rose; cudweed; filago (any plant of the genus Filago having capitate clusters of small woolly flower heads)

gazania (any plant of the genus Gazania valued for their showy daisy flowers)

African daisy (African or Asiatic herbs with daisylike flowers)

helianthus; sunflower (any plant of the genus Helianthus having large flower heads with dark disk florets and showy yellow rays)

Layia platyglossa; tidy tips; tidytips (California annual having flower heads with yellow rays tipped with white)

Chrysanthemum leucanthemum; Leucanthemum vulgare; marguerite; moon daisy; ox-eyed daisy; oxeye daisy; white daisy (tall leafy-stemmed Eurasian perennial with white flowers; widely naturalized; often placed in genus Chrysanthemum)

Lindheimera texana; Texas star (Texas annual with coarsely pinnatifid leaves; cultivated for its showy radiate yellow flower heads)

African daisy; Lonas annua; Lonas inodora; yellow ageratum (shrub of southwestern Mediterranean region having yellow daisylike flowers)

cineraria; Pericallis cruenta; Senecio cruentus (herb of Canary Islands widely cultivated for its blue or purple or red or variegated daisylike flowers)

florest's cineraria; Pericallis hybrida (herb derived from Pericallis cruenta and widely cultivated in a variety of profusely flowering forms with florets from white to pink to red or purple or violet or blue)

coneflower (any of various plants of the genus Rudbeckia cultivated for their large usually yellow daisies with prominent central cones)

white-topped aster (herb having corymbose white-rayed flowers with scaly bracts and silky indehiscent fruits)

cornflower aster; stokes' aster; Stokesia laevis (erect perennial of southeastern United States having large heads of usually blue flowers)

marigold (any of various tropical American plants of the genus Tagetes widely cultivated for their showy yellow or orange flowers)

Chrysanthemum coccineum; painted daisy; pyrethrum; Tanacetum coccineum (spring-flowering garden perennial of Asiatic origin having finely divided aromatic leaves and white to pink-purple flowers; source of an insecticide; sometimes placed in genus Chrysanthemum)

Mexican sunflower; tithonia (any plant of the genus Tithonia; tall coarse herbs or shrubs of Mexico to Panama having large flower heads resembling sunflowers with yellow disc florets and golden-yellow to orange-scarlet rays)

Easter daisy; stemless daisy; Townsendia Exscapa (dwarf tufted nearly stemless herb having a rosette of woolly leaves and large white-rayed flower heads and bristly achenes; central Canada and United States west to Arizona)

ursinia (any of various plants of the genus Ursinia grown for their yellow- or orange- or white-rayed flowers)

xeranthemum (any plant of the genus Xeranthemum native to southern Europe having chaffy or silvery flower heads with purplish tubular flowers)

old maid; old maid flower; zinnia (any of various plants of the genus Zinnia cultivated for their variously and brightly colored flower heads)

blazing star; Mentzelia laevicaulis; Mentzelia livicaulis (biennial of southwestern United States having white stems and toothed leaves that is grown for its large pale yellow flowers that open in early morning)

bartonia; Mentzelia lindleyi (annual grown especially for its fragrant golden nocturnal flowers)

orchid; orchidaceous plant (any of numerous plants of the orchid family usually having flowers of unusual shapes and beautiful colors)

cyclamen; Cyclamen purpurascens (Mediterranean plant widely cultivated as a houseplant for its showy dark green leaves splotched with silver and nodding white or pink to reddish flowers with reflexed petals)

Cyclamen hederifolium; Cyclamen neopolitanum; sowbread (common wild European cyclamen with pink flowers)

shortia (any plant of the genus Shortia; evergreen perennial herbs with smooth leathery basal leaves and showy white solitary flowers)

centaury (any of various plants of the genus Centaurium)

gentian (any of various plants of the family Gentianaceae especially the genera Gentiana and Gentianella and Gentianopsis)

begonia (any of numerous plants of the genus Begonia grown for their attractive glossy asymmetrical leaves and colorful flowers in usually terminal cymes or racemes)

Sparaxis tricolor; wandflower (a showy often-cultivated plant with tawny yellow often purple-spotted flowers)

Bessera elegans; coral drops (half-hardy Mexican herb cultivated for its drooping terminal umbels of showy red-and-white flowers)

Christmas bells (any of several plants of the genus Blandfordia having large orange or crimson flowers)

bellwort; merry bells; wild oats (any of various plants of the genus Uvularia having yellowish drooping bell-shaped flowers)

Polianthes tuberosa; tuberose (a tuberous Mexican herb having grasslike leaves and cultivated for its spikes of highly fragrant lily-like waxy white flowers)

commelina (any plant of the genus Commelina)

scabiosa; scabious (any of various plants of the genus Scabiosa)

Lithophragma affine; Lithophragma affinis; Tellima affinis; woodland star (California perennial herb cultivated for its racemose white flowers with widely spreading petals; sometimes placed in genus Tellima)

achimenes; hot water plant (any plant of the genus Achimenes having showy bell-shaped flowers that resemble gloxinias)

Alsobia dianthiflora; Episcia dianthiflora; lace-flower vine (low-growing creeping perennial of Central America having deeply fringed white flowers; sometimes placed in genus Episcia)

African violet; Saintpaulia ionantha (tropical African plant cultivated as a houseplant for its violet or white or pink flowers)

streptocarpus (any of various plants of the genus Streptocarpus having leaves in a basal rosette and flowers like primroses)

phacelia; scorpion weed; scorpionweed (any plant of the genus Phacelia)

snapdragon (a garden plant of the genus Antirrhinum having showy white or yellow or crimson flowers resembling the face of a dragon)

calceolaria; slipperwort (any garden plant of the genus Calceolaria having flowers with large inflated slipper-shaped lower lip)

gerardia (any plant of the genus Gerardia)

butter-and-eggs; devil's flax; Linaria vulgaris; toadflax; wild snapdragon (common European perennial having showy yellow and orange flowers; a naturalized weed in North America)

speedwell; veronica (any plant of the genus Veronica)

browallia; bush violet (any of several herbs of the genus Browallia cultivated for their blue or violet or white flowers)

petunia (any of numerous tropical herbs having fluted funnel-shaped flowers)

butterfly flower; poor man's orchid; schizanthus (any plant of the genus Schizanthus having finely divided leaves and showy variegated flowers)

verbena; vervain (any of numerous tropical or subtropical American plants of the genus Verbena grown for their showy spikes of variously colored flowers)

valerian (a plant of the genus Valeriana having lobed or dissected leaves and cymose white or pink flowers)

Centranthus ruber; French honeysuckle; red valerian (European herb with small fragrant crimson or white spurred flowers)

Derivation:

flower (produce or yield flowers)

flowery (of or relating to or suggestive of flowers)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Reproductive organ of angiosperm plants especially one having showy or colorful parts

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

bloom; blossom; flower

Hypernyms ("flower" is a kind of...):

reproductive structure (the parts of a plant involved in its reproduction)

Meronyms (parts of "flower"):

stamen (the male reproductive organ of a flower)

pistil (the female ovule-bearing part of a flower composed of ovary and style and stigma)

carpel (a simple pistil or one element of a compound pistil)

ovary (the organ that bears the ovules of a flower)

floral leaf (a modified leaf that is part of a flower)

chlamys; floral envelope; perianth; perigone; perigonium (collective term for the outer parts of a flower consisting of the calyx and corolla and enclosing the stamens and pistils)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "flower"):

floret; floweret (a diminutive flower (especially one that is part of a composite flower))

apetalous flower (flower having no petals)

inflorescence (the flowering part of a plant or arrangement of flowers on a stalk)

ray floret; ray flower (small flower with a flat strap-shaped corolla usually occupying the peripheral rings of a composite flower)

bud (a partially opened flower)

chrysanthemum (the flower of a chrysanthemum plant)

Holonyms ("flower" is a part of...):

angiosperm; flowering plant (plants having seeds in a closed ovary)

Derivation:

flower (produce or yield flowers)

Sense 3

Meaning:

The period of greatest prosperity or productivity

Classified under:

Nouns denoting time and temporal relations

Synonyms:

bloom; blossom; efflorescence; flower; flush; heyday; peak; prime

Hypernyms ("flower" is a kind of...):

period; period of time; time period (an amount of time)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "flower"):

golden age (a time period when some activity or skill was at its peak)

• FLOWER (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they flower    ... he / she / it flowers   
Past simple: flowered   
Past participle: flowered   
-ing form: flowering   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Produce or yield flowers

Classified under:

Verbs of size, temperature change, intensifying, etc.

Synonyms:

bloom; blossom; flower

Context example:

The cherry tree bloomed

Hypernyms (to "flower" is one way to...):

develop (grow, progress, unfold, or evolve through a process of evolution, natural growth, differentiation, or a conducive environment)

Troponyms (each of the following is one way to "flower"):

burst forth; effloresce (come into or as if into flower)

Sentence frame:

Something ----s

Derivation:

flower (reproductive organ of angiosperm plants especially one having showy or colorful parts)

flower (a plant cultivated for its blooms or blossoms)

flowering (the time and process of budding and unfolding of blossoms)

 Context examples 

Let us walk in these beautiful woods, Watson, and give a few hours to the birds and the flowers.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He likened her to a pale gold flower upon a slender stem.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

There was a wilderness of beautiful white flowers, and death was made as little repulsive as might be.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

A girl of fourteen, Patience Moran, who is the daughter of the lodge-keeper of the Boscombe Valley estate, was in one of the woods picking flowers.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Is not this room rich in specimens of your landscapes and flowers; and has not Mrs. Weston some inimitable figure-pieces in her drawing-room, at Randalls?

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

The only little thorn that comes with this flower of an eclipse involves an opposition of Pluto and Saturn to that full moon, making this full moon more emotional.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

Soon they rolled the Lion out of the poppy bed to the green fields, where he could breathe the sweet, fresh air again, instead of the poisonous scent of the flowers.

(The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, by L. Frank Baum)

The south wind blew Dora, and the wild flowers in the hedges were all Doras, to a bud.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

Then he plucked the flower, and set out and travelled day and night, till he came again to the castle.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)