Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A collection of excerpts from written texts, especially works of literature.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Same as florilege, 2.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A collection of flowers
  • noun An anthology

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun an anthology of short literary pieces and poems and ballads etc.

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[New Latin flōrilegium, flower-gathering (translation of Greek anthologion, flower-gathering, anthology), from Latin flōrilegus, gathering flowers : flōs, flōr-, flower; see flower + legere, to gather; see leg- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Latin, from flos ("flower") + form of legō ("I gather"), calque of Ancient Greek ἀνθολογία (anthologia, "flower-gathering") (English anthology), so called because flowers were used as symbols of the finer sensibility of literature.

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Examples

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  • A critic on The Book of Disquiet: 'What is this Livro do Desassossego ? Neither 'commonplace book', nor 'sketchbook', nor 'florilegium' will do. Imagine a fusion of Coleridge's notebooks and marginalia, of Valery's philosophic diary and of Robert Musil's voluminous journal... What we have is a haunting mosaic of dreams, psychological notations, autobiographical vignettes, shards of literary theory and criticism and maxims.'

    June 19, 2008

  • cf: Banks' Florilegium for an historic example brought forth in modern times.

    January 11, 2009

  • (n): a collection of botanical sketches, paintings, and/or reproductions depicting collected plants in their original form and colors.

    January 11, 2009

  • an earthburst (as opposed to a thunderburst)

    November 12, 2011