TOUCH-ME-NOT

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does touch-me-not mean? 

• TOUCH-ME-NOT (noun)
  The noun TOUCH-ME-NOT has 3 senses:

1. North American annual plant with usually yellow or orange flowers; grows chiefly on wet rather acid soil

2. Mediterranean vine having oblong fruit that when ripe expels its seeds and juice violently when touched

3. prostrate or semi-erect subshrub of tropical America, and Australia; heavily armed with recurved thorns and having sensitive soft grey-green leaflets that fold and droop at night or when touched or cooled

  Familiarity information: TOUCH-ME-NOT used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• TOUCH-ME-NOT (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

North American annual plant with usually yellow or orange flowers; grows chiefly on wet rather acid soil

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

celandine; Impatiens capensis; jewelweed; lady's earrings; orange balsam; touch-me-not

Hypernyms ("touch-me-not" 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)

Holonyms ("touch-me-not" is a member of...):

genus Impatiens (annual or perennial herbs with stems more or less succulent; cosmopolitan except for South America, Australia, and New Zealand)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Mediterranean vine having oblong fruit that when ripe expels its seeds and juice violently when touched

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

Ecballium elaterium; exploding cucumber; squirting cucumber; touch-me-not

Hypernyms ("touch-me-not" is a kind of...):

gourd; gourd vine (any vine of the family Cucurbitaceae that bears fruits with hard rinds)

Holonyms ("touch-me-not" is a member of...):

Ecballium; genus Ecballium (exploding cucumber; squirting cucumber)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Prostrate or semi-erect subshrub of tropical America, and Australia; heavily armed with recurved thorns and having sensitive soft grey-green leaflets that fold and droop at night or when touched or cooled

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

action plant; humble plant; live-and-die; Mimosa pudica; sensitive plant; shame plant; touch-me-not

Hypernyms ("touch-me-not" is a kind of...):

mimosa (any of various tropical shrubs or trees of the genus Mimosa having usually yellow flowers and compound leaves)

Holonyms ("touch-me-not" is a member of...):

genus Mimosa (genus of spiny woody shrubs or trees; named for their apparent imitation of animal sensitivity to light and heat and movement)