Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of several plants of the genus Urginea of Africa and Eurasia, especially the Mediterranean species U. maritima, having a large bulb and lanceolate leaves.
- noun A powder prepared from the dried inner scales of the bulbs of U. maritima, used as rat poison and formerly as a cardiac stimulant, expectorant, and diuretic.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The medicinal bulb of Urginea Scilla, or the plant itself; the officinal squill. See
Urginea . - noun Any plant of the genus Scilla (which see).
- noun A stomatopodous crustacean of the genus Squilla or family Squillidæ; a mantis-shrimp or squill-fish. See cuts under
mantis-shrimp and Squillidæ. - noun An insect so called from its resemblance to the preceding; a mantis. Also called
squill-insect .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A European bulbous liliaceous plant (
Urginea maritima , formerlyScilla maritima ), of acrid, expectorant, diuretic, and emetic properties, used in medicine. Called alsosea onion . - noun Any bulbous plant of the genus Scilla.
- noun A squilla.
- noun A mantis.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A European
bulbous liliaceous plant , of the genusScilla , used in medicine for itsacrid ,expectorant ,diuretic , andemetic properties - noun A mantis shrimp, Squilla mantis, from the
Mediterranean
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun an Old World plant of the genus Scilla having narrow basal leaves and pink or blue or white racemose flowers
- noun bulb of the sea squill, which is sliced, dried, and used as an expectorant
- noun having dense spikes of small white flowers and yielding a bulb with medicinal properties
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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The 'Spring Beauty' Siberian squill flourishes in colder parts of the country.
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For a time it seemed as if squill was right to be so confident.
The Lives of Felix Gunderson Sugu Althomsons 2010
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Granite bedrock and boulders – all encrusted with lichens – are lapped in clumps of white bladder campion and pink thrift, drifts of bluebells and patches of turf starred with vernal squill (the seaside bluebell).
Country diary: Cornwall Virginia Spiers 2010
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Fulmars, uncharacteristically quiet today, sit on their ledges among more splashes of bright pink, cascades of yellow bird's-foot trefoil and the last of the blue spring squill.
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The hillside was covered with scatter rugs of snowdrops in late winter and a blue wall-to-wall carpet of Siberian squill in early spring.
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The slope was originally covered with grass and a few patches of snowdrops, Siberian squill and glory-of-the-snow that the previous owner had planted.
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The snowdrops bloom first, followed by the Siberian squill and daffodils.
Suzy Bales: Looking For Compounding Interest? Plant Bulbs! 2009
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I have my cocillana squill syrup though, which I just took another hit of, and it seems to be working.
April 21st, 2007 ceciliatan 2007
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As the snowdrops and winter aconite begin to depart, glory-of-the-snow, Siberian squill, dwarf iris, and puschkinia might arrive.
Suzy Bales: Looking For Compounding Interest? Plant Bulbs! 2009
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When the hole is four inches deep, I plant a dozen Siberian squill and cover the bulbs up to two inches from the top.
Suzy Bales: Looking For Compounding Interest? Plant Bulbs! 2009
qroqqa commented on the word squill
Squill are flowering in Bunhill Fields. With the aid of image search I have finally identified those blue jobs. From Latin squilla, variant of usual (and Linnean) scilla, from Greek. I wonder why the variation? Could it be a late reborrowing, from the time when ci and qui had begun to change their sounds?
March 16, 2009