PRIMROSE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does primrose mean? 

• PRIMROSE (noun)
  The noun PRIMROSE has 1 sense:

1. any of numerous short-stemmed plants of the genus Primula having tufted basal leaves and showy flowers clustered in umbels or heads

  Familiarity information: PRIMROSE used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• PRIMROSE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of numerous short-stemmed plants of the genus Primula having tufted basal leaves and showy flowers clustered in umbels or heads

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

primrose; primula

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

herb; herbaceous plant (a plant lacking a permanent woody stem; many are flowering garden plants or potherbs; some having medicinal properties; some are pests)

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

English primrose; Primula vulgaris (plant of western and southern Europe widely cultivated for its pale yellow flowers)

cowslip; paigle; Primula veris (early spring flower common in British isles having fragrant yellow or sometimes purple flowers)

oxlip; paigle; Primula elatior (Eurasian primrose with yellow flowers clustered in a one-sided umbel)

Chinese primrose; Primula sinensis (cultivated Asiatic primrose)

auricula; bear's ear; Primula auricula (yellow-flowered primrose native to Alps; commonly cultivated)

polyanthus; Primula polyantha (florists' primroses; considered a complex hybrid derived from oxlip, cowslip, and common primrose)

Holonyms ("primrose" is a member of...):

genus Primula (very large and important genus of plants of temperate Europe and Asia having showy flowers)

 Context examples 

And now vegetation matured with vigour; Lowood shook loose its tresses; it became all green, all flowery; its great elm, ash, and oak skeletons were restored to majestic life; woodland plants sprang up profusely in its recesses; unnumbered varieties of moss filled its hollows, and it made a strange ground-sunshine out of the wealth of its wild primrose plants: I have seen their pale gold gleam in overshadowed spots like scatterings of the sweetest lustre.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

He strayed down a walk edged with box, with apple trees, pear trees, and cherry trees on one side, and a border on the other full of all sorts of old-fashioned flowers, stocks, sweet-williams, primroses, pansies, mingled with southernwood, sweet-briar, and various fragrant herbs.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)