heliotrope

noun

1. (also, countable, figuratively)A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.

   “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:[…]”

   “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.”

   “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.”

   “Cordials. […] Flovvers of Heliotrope, […]”

   “Flovvers in Prime, or yet laſting. […] Star-vvort, Heliotrop, French Mary-gold, […]”

2. (also, countable, figuratively, specifically, uncountable)A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.

   “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.”

   “Here's newyearspray, the posquiflor, a windaborne and heliotrope; there miriamsweet and amaranth and marygold to crown.”

3. (also, countable, figuratively, uncountable)A plant with flowers which turn to face and follow the sun, such as (archaic) marigolds and sunflowers.
4. (uncountable)The fragrance of Heliotropium arborescens flowers, or a scent resembling this fragrance.

   “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.”

   “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.”

5. (uncountable)A light purple or violet colour like that of Heliotropium arborescens flowers.

   “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, […]”

6. (countable)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).
7. (countable, historical)An ancient type of sundial consisting of a bowl with a perpendicular gnomon mounted in the centre.
8. (countable, uncountable)Synonym of bloodstone (“a green chalcedony that is sprinkled with red spots or veins of hematite”).

   “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.”

adj

1. Of a light purple or violet colour like that of Heliotropium arborescens flowers.

   “"Lady in a heliotrope dress with a lace collar, three flounces on the skirt?" / "That's right, Mr. Bennett," agreed old Goslin. / "It's the Babe himself!" asserted Harry Bennett.”

   “There was a ten-mile stretch of level ground, blown hard as rock, from which the sustenance had been bleached, for not a spear of grass grew there. And following that was a tortuous passage through a weird region of clay dunes, blue and violet and heliotrope and lavender, all worn smooth by rain and wind.”