Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of various shrubs of the genus Syringa, especially S. vulgaris, which has been widely cultivated for its clusters of fragrant flowers that are usually purplish or white but may be pink, blue, or creamy yellow depending on the cultivar.
- noun A pale to light or moderate purple.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A shrub of the genus Syringa. See
Syringa . - noun The color of the common lilac-blossom; a pale-purple color. A color-disk composed of one half artificial ultramarine, one sixth Chinese vermilion, and one third white will give a lilac.
- Of the light-purple color of the flower of the common lilac.
- noun A fanciers' name for a peculiar bluish-gray color shown in the coats of some domesticated mice.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Bot.) A shrub of the genus Syringa. There are six species, natives of Europe and Asia.
Syringa vulgaris , the common lilac, andSyringa Persica , the Persian lilac, are frequently cultivated for the fragrance and beauty of their purplish or white flowers. In the British colonies various other shrubs have this name. - noun A light purplish color like that of the flower of the purplish lilac.
- noun (Bot.) a low shrub with dense clusters of purplish flowers (
Ceanothus thyrsiflorus ).
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A large
shrub of the genusSyringa , bearingwhite , palepink orpurple flowers . - noun Lilac flowers.
- noun colour A pale purple
colour , the colour of some lilac flowers. - adjective colour having a pale purple colour.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- adjective of a pale purple color
- noun any of various plants of the genus Syringa having large panicles of usually fragrant flowers
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Yet why, from inhaling air containing particles of lilac, should we be able to know that there is anything outside, much less that it is a flower and of a particular variety which we call lilac?
The Mind and Its Education George Herbert Betts 1901
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The early afternoon sun skipped across the thick gray braids flowing down her back; she wore a blouse rife with an ecstatic wonder of purple and lime green panels riddled with spinning wheels bathed in lilac, yellow stars, and flame-tinted diamonds.
A Michoacan tradition: the needlework artistry of Hermelinda Reyes 2009
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The early afternoon sun skipped across the thick gray braids flowing down her back; she wore a blouse rife with an ecstatic wonder of purple and lime green panels riddled with spinning wheels bathed in lilac, yellow stars, and flame-tinted diamonds.
A Michoacan tradition: the needlework artistry of Hermelinda Reyes 2009
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I am sending you a virtual bouquet of mountain lilac from San Diego and a fresh bouquet of rosemary to remind you of Provence!
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At the next table sat a Moslem woman wearing a silk overall striped in lilac and purple and dull blue.
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At the next table sat a Moslem woman wearing a silk overall striped in lilac and purple and dull blue.
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If those other shades, the troubles of life, have become too dense and shouldered out the light, so that the sick imagination sees them as crouching beasts of prey, a pilgrimage to such a tranquil place in lilac time may help to set things right again.
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Whether it is sultry, as in lilac, or cool, as in lady's smocks, this mingling of fierce red and saintly blue has an elfin quality.
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"Thorny, what is the matter with Ben?" asked Miss Celia, one day, when she and her brother were alone in the "green parlor," as they called the lilac-tree walk.
St. Nicholas Magazine for Boys and Girls, Vol. 5, July 1878, No. 9 Various 1868
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The lilac is nice, and I’d go for it in green as well.
Of Leaf Mould and Other Fashion Disasters « We Don't Count Your Own Visits To Your Blog 2006
lilacs524 commented on the word lilac
my username: from Barenaked Ladies' "Lilac Girl".
February 23, 2007
bilby commented on the word lilac
Who thought of the lilac?
'I,' dew said,
'I made up the lilac,
out of my head.'
'She made up the lilac!
Pooh!' thrilled a linnet,
and each dew-note had a
lilac in it.
- Humbert Wolfe, 'The Lilac'.
November 12, 2008