Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Black-lead; graphite. See
graphite . - noun [capitalized] [NL. (Tournefort, 1700).] A genus of plants, the leadworts, of the order Plumbagineæ and tribe Plumbageæ. characterized by a glandular calyx with five short erect teeth, a salver-shaped corolla with slender tube, free stamens, and five styles united into one nearly to the top.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Min.) Same as
graphite . - noun (Bot.) A genus of herbaceous plants with pretty salver-shaped corollas, usually blue or violet; leadwort.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun mineralogy
graphite - noun botany
leadwort
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun used as a lubricant and as a moderator in nuclear reactors
- noun any plumbaginaceous plant of the genus Plumbago
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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Graphite, locally known as plumbago, the only commercial mineral of the country, might be seen in the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy.
Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission
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Here are the magnolia, the laurel, the Japanese medlar, the oleander, the pepper, the bay, the date-palm, a tree called the plumbago, another from the Cape of Good
The Complete Project Gutenberg Writings of Charles Dudley Warner Charles Dudley Warner 1864
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Carbon, combined with a small quantity of iron, forms a compound called plumbago, or black-lead, of which pencils are made.
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The pureness of whites in some celebrated old pictures is rather to be attributed to a proper method of using, careful preservation of the work, and in many instances to the introduction of ultramarine or a permanent cold colour into the white -- such as plumbago -- helped also by judicious contrast.
Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists George Field
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The greatest standby to the amateur gardener should undoubtedly be the blue-flowered shrub known as "plumbago".
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I've got a feeling the BLUE plant in the terracotta pot is a plumbago (is it, Kristin?) ... having a friendly conversation with the RED busy lizzies in the old bucket.
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So, yes, in blue, I'm sure now it is a plumbago, but the red flowers "dans le seau" (in the bucket) are not busy lizzies - and not geraniums either.
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A few that come to mind — Mertensia virginica Virginia bluebells, Ceratostigma plumbaginoides Perennial plumbago, and this little beauty.
Now showing: Veronica ped. ‘Georgia Blue’ « Sugar Creek Gardens’ Blog 2009
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A few that come to mind — Mertensia virginica Virginia bluebells, Ceratostigma plumbaginoides Perennial plumbago, and this little [...]
Virginia bluebells: a kaleidoscope of spring color « Sugar Creek Gardens’ Blog 2009
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So, yes, in blue, I'm sure now it is a plumbago, but the red flowers "dans le seau" in the bucket are not busy lizzies - and not geraniums either.
sionnach commented on the word plumbago
Back pain induced by sitting unnaturally straight for long periods of time.
November 16, 2007