flower

noun

1. (countable, uncountable)A colorful, conspicuous structure associated with angiosperms, frequently scented and attracting various insects, and which may or may not be used for sexual reproduction.

   “O Laurinella! little doſt thou wot / How fraile a flower thou doſt ſo highly prize: / Beauty's the flower, but love the flower-pot / That muſt preſerve it, els it quickly dyes.”

   “The flowers glowed red and golden: snapdragons and sunflowers, and nasturtians trailing all over the turf walls and peeping in at the round windows.”

2. (countable, uncountable)A reproductive structure in angiosperms (flowering plants), often conspicuously colourful and typically including sepals, petals, and either or both stamens and/or a pistil.

   “You know, Darwin studied their fertilisation, and showed that the whole structure of an ordinary orchid flower was contrived in order that moths might carry the pollen from plant to plant.”

3. (countable, uncountable)A plant that bears flowers, especially a plant that is small and lacks wood.

   “We transplanted the flowers to a larger pot.”

4. (countable, uncountable)The stem of a flowering plant with the blossom or blossoms attached, used for decoration, as a gift, etc.

   “He always keeps a vase full of flowers in his office.”

5. (uncountable, usually)Of plants, a state of bearing blooms.

   “The dogwoods are in flower this week.”

6. (countable, euphemistic, familiar, uncountable)The vulva, especially the labia majora.

   “[F]or ſtill, that my virgin-flower was yet uncrop'd never once enter'd into his head, and he would have thought it idling with time and words to have queſtion'd me upon it.”

   “So was it asserted, that whenever a maiden was destined to die unmarried, as surely would the plant wither away and perish, and if a dughter of the Renseccos lost her honour or had given away her flower to an unworthy lover, then would the flower be blighted overnight.”

   “In some local tradditions a fallen bride was married wearing a crown of straw rather than a garland of flowers, to symbolize her loss of virginity – the wilting of her flower.”

   “"Our flesh as one!" he laughed, speaking loudly. "Sweating bodies entwined in carnal passion! As I plunge myself deep into her lady flower, again and again and again— !"”

7. (countable, uncountable)The best examples or representatives of a group.

   “At Floddon hyllys, / Our bowys, our byllys / Slew all the floure / Of theyr honoure.”

   “The choice and flower of all things profitable in other Bookes, the Pſalmes doe both more briefly contayne, and more mouingly alſo expreſſe, by reason of that Poeticall forme wherewith they are written.”

   “the flower of the chivalry of all Spain”

   “In times of peace, so clean and bright, / And with a new-washed morning face, / He walked Pall Mall, a goodly sight, / The finished flower of all the race.”

8. (countable, uncountable)The best state of things; the prime.

   “She was in the flower of her life.”

   “A simple maiden in her flower / Is worth a hundred coats-of-arms.”

   “NO lady fair in hall or bower, / In days when knighthood was in flower, / Or high-born dame with jewels set, / Or Tudor or Plantagenet, / E’er wore enwreath’d on form and face / Thy royal robe of richest grace.”

9. (countable, obsolete, uncountable)Flour.

   “The Flovvers of Grains mix'd vvith VVater vvill make a ſort of Glue.”

10. (countable, in-plural, obsolete, uncountable)A substance in the form of a powder, especially when condensed from sublimation.

    “the flowers of sulphur”

    “Exposed to a moderate fire in subliming pots, [brimstone] rises all into dry, and almost tasteless, flowers; whereas being exposed to a naked fire, it affords store of a saline and fretting liquor.”

11. (countable, uncountable)A figure of speech; an ornament of style.
12. (countable, uncountable)Ornamental type used chiefly for borders around pages, cards, etc.

    “I pointed out to the late Mr. Catherwood, of the firm of Caslon and Catherwood, the inconvenience of both these modes of cutting flowers,”

13. (countable, in-plural, obsolete, uncountable)Menstrual discharges.

    “And if any man lye with her at all, and her flowers be vpon him, hee shall be vncleane seuen dayes: and all the bed whereon he lyeth, shall be vncleane.”

14. (countable, uncountable)A delicate, fragile, or oversensitive person.

    “[…] she whispered leaning over and kissing her forehead; and then added, 'Mummy loves you, precious flower.'”

    ““Take care of yourself out there, Brown, you delicate flower.””

    ““Come on, you delicate flower, we just need to nap. It will be fine.””

15. (countable, figuratively, in-plural, uncountable)Credit, recognition.

    “to give someone his flowers; to get one's flowers”

    “It has been my desire to find a way to express my gratitude to these women for quite some time but I really did not know how to give them their flowers as a method to tell them thanks.”

    “I was able to give Coach Bryant his flowers while he was alive, and I have always been thankful I was able to do that.”

    “Gonzalo managed to fake a smile. When will anyone ever give him his flowers? His hard work kept him and his kingdom this far. Wasn't anyone going to acknowledge the fact?”

    “Sabrina Carpenter is, finally, getting her flowers. Ever since demurely (I don't use that word lightly!!!) performing what would become the song of 2024 as part of her Coachella set—no, literally, "Espresso" just won the MTV Video Music Award for Song of the Year—all eyes have been on 'Brina.”

16. (slang, uncountable)Cannabis.
17. (rare)Something that flows, such as a river.

    “Leaving the weavers’ village behind you, and crossing the sandy bed of the Vengavati or ‘Swift-flower,’ which, however, contained not a drop of water, you reach the ancient Jain temple.”

    “Rhŏdănus, i, m. The Rhodanus (now Rhone); a river of Gaul [prob. a northern word, meaning “Swift-flower or Swift-passer”].”

    “sará-yu, f. [swift flower: √sri] N. of a river (in Oudh), in C. gnly. û.”

    “one that flows with force and speed; the fast flower”

    “Bonnie partner with Scottish flower (5) [as a clue for CLYDE]”

verb

1. (intransitive)To put forth blooms.

   “This plant flowers in June.”

2. (transitive)To decorate with pictures of flowers.
3. (intransitive)To reach a state of full development or achievement.

   “when flowr'd my youthful spring”

   “It only needed watering to take root, to flower and to fructify, and the watering came in due course.”

   “In life after life of this now-expanded circle of women artists, writers and revolutionaries, the same appeared: a flowing of creative insight and vision seemed the follow a sexual flowering.”

4. (archaic, intransitive)To froth; to ferment gently, as new beer.

   “That beer did flower a little.”

5. (intransitive)To come off as flowers by sublimation.

   “observations which have flowered off”