Definitions

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.), obsolete See Heliotrope.
  • noun (Min.) A variety of opal which is usually milk white, bluish white, or sky blue; but in a bright light it reflects a reddish color.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • One common explanation is that "Jerusalem" is a corruption of girasole, the Italian word for sunflower.

    NPR Topics: News 2011

  • One common explanation is that "Jerusalem" is a corruption of girasole, the Italian word for sunflower.

    NPR Topics: News 2011

  • Page Summary girasole: (no subject) [+0] la_marquise_de_: (no subject) [+0] julieandrews: (no subject) [+0] shweta_narayan: (no subject) [+0]

    Beastly Bride!!!! deliasherman 2010

  • Incidentally the name 'Giravanz' is a combination of the Italian words for 'sunflower', the official flower of Kitakyushu, and 'advance' 'girasole' and 'avanzare'.

    When was the last season in which no top-flight manager lost their job? | The Knowledge 2011

  • The Americans (reigning champs at mispronouncing things) thought the Italians meant “Jerusalem” when they said “girasole,” and voila.

    Green Beat: Society and Style Newcomb, Peter 2009

  • Its original Italian name, “girasole articicco” (meaning “sunflower artichoke”), was given based on its looks and taste.

    Green Beat: Society and Style Newcomb, Peter 2009

  • Just a bit of trivia. i believe the name “Jerusalem” in this case is a corruption of the italian word for sunflower, which is “girasole” i.e. turn to the sun.

    What I Ate Last Night Department - Bitten Blog - NYTimes.com 2008

  • Nothing to do with Jerusalem, the name is a anglicization of “girasole” — turning to the sun in Italian — which reflects its sunflower “roots.”

    What I Ate Last Night Department - Bitten Blog - NYTimes.com 2008

  • The name of the artichoke, it turns out, is a funny thing - it's not really an artichoke (it's a tuber, like a potato), and it has no connection to jerusalem (it's a mis-pronunciation of the Italian word for sunflower, girasole).

    Archive 2008-01-01 Annemarie 2008

  • And so, via girasole, the best-ever adopta-mom, the Booklist review for GRAIL QUEST: THE CAMELOT SPELL!

    TGIF suricattus 2006

Comments

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  • Italian - sunflower.

    October 31, 2008

  • "... the Jerusalem artichoke--related not to the globe variety but to the sunflower--girasole in Italian--was discovered by a Frenchman in Cape Cod and by about 1615 had found its way via Holland to England, where it was washed and scraped, turning the cook's fingers brown, then boiled and buttered, mashed into tarts, thrown into simmering stews, pickled or preserved."

    --Kate Colquhoun, Taste: The Story of Britain Through Its Cooking (NY: Bloomsbury, 2007), 131

    January 11, 2017