Definitions

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

  • noun The reproductive structure of angiosperms, characteristically having either specialized male or female organs or both male and female organs, such as stamens and a pistil, enclosed in an outer envelope of petals and sepals.
  • noun Such a structure having showy or colorful parts; a blossom.
  • noun A flower head.
  • noun A plant that is cultivated or appreciated for its blossoms.
  • noun The condition or a time of having developed flowers.
  • noun The period of highest development or greatest vigor. synonym: bloom.
  • noun The highest example or best representative.
  • noun A natural development or outgrowth.
  • noun Chemistry A fine powder produced by condensation or sublimation of a compound.
  • intransitive verb To produce a flower or flowers; blossom.
  • intransitive verb To develop naturally or fully; mature.
  • intransitive verb To decorate with flowers or with a floral pattern.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun In botany: A growth comprising the reproductive organs of a phenogamous plant and their envelops.
  • noun In popular language: Any blossom or inflorescence.
  • noun Any plant considered with reference to its blossom, or of which the blossom is the essential feature; a plant cultivated for its floral beauty.
  • noun The best or finest of a number of persons or things, or the choice part of a thing: as, the flower of the family.
  • noun That state or part of anything which may be likened to the flowering state of a plant; especially, the early period of life or of adult age; youthful vigor; prime: as, the flower of youth or manhood; the flower of beauty.
  • noun A figure of speech; an ornament of style.
  • noun In printing, a type of decorative design used in borders, or in constructed typographic head-bands or ornaments, or with an initial letter.
  • noun Eccles., an ornament of a chasuble, consisting in gold or other embroidery of branching or floreated patterns, extending over the upper part of the back, about the shoulders, and sometimes also in front, so as to cover the chest.
  • noun The finest part of grain pulverized. See flour.
  • noun plural In chem., fine particles of a substance, especially when raised by fire in sublimation, and adhering to the heads of vessels in the form of a powder or mealy deposit: as, the flowers of sulphur.
  • noun plural The menstrual flow.
  • To blossom; bloom; produce flowers; come into bloom or a blooming condition, literally or figuratively.
  • To flourish; be in a flourishing or vigorous condition.
  • To froth; ferment gently; mantle, as new beer.
  • To come as froth or cream from the surface.
  • Plants cultivated especially for their flowers.
  • To cover or embellish with flowers, or figures or imitations of flowers, as ribbons, lace, gloves, glass, etc.

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

  • noun In the popular sense, the bloom or blossom of a plant; the showy portion, usually of a different color, shape, and texture from the foliage.
  • noun (Bot.) That part of a plant destined to produce seed, and hence including one or both of the sexual organs; an organ or combination of the organs of reproduction, whether inclosed by a circle of foliar parts or not. A complete flower consists of two essential parts, the stamens and the pistil, and two floral envelopes, the corolla and callyx. In mosses the flowers consist of a few special leaves surrounding or subtending organs called archegonia. See Blossom, and Corolla.
  • noun The fairest, freshest, and choicest part of anything; ; the state or time of freshness and bloom.
  • noun obsolete Grain pulverized; meal; flour.
  • noun (Old Chem.) A substance in the form of a powder, especially when condensed from sublimation.
  • noun A figure of speech; an ornament of style.
  • noun (Print.) Ornamental type used chiefly for borders around pages, cards, etc.
  • noun Menstrual discharges.
  • noun (Zoöl.) See under Animal.
  • noun flowers cut from the stalk, as for making a bouquet.
  • noun a plat in a garden for the cultivation of flowers.
  • noun (Zoöl.) any beetle which feeds upon flowers, esp. any one of numerous small species of the genus Meligethes, family Nitidulidæ, some of which are injurious to crops.
  • noun (Zoöl.) an Australian bird of the genus Anthornis, allied to the honey eaters.
  • noun an unopened flower.
  • noun an assemblage of flowers which open and close at different hours of the day, thus indicating the time.
  • noun (Bot.) a compound flower in which all the florets are sessile on their receptacle, as in the case of the daisy.
  • noun (Zoöl.) one of a family (Dicæidæ) of small Indian and Australian birds. They resemble humming birds in habits.
  • noun (Fine Arts) A picture of flowers.
  • noun (Bot.) the peduncle of a plant, or the stem that supports the flower or fructification.
  • transitive verb To embellish with flowers; to adorn with imitated flowers.

Etymologies

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

[Middle English flour, from Old French flor, from Latin flōs, flōr-; see bhel- in Indo-European roots.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Middle English flour, from Anglo-Norman flur, from Latin flōrem, accusative of flōs, from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃ (“to thrive, bloom”). Replaced Middle English blosme, blossem ("flower, blossom") (more at blossom).

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

to flow + -er

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Examples

  • There are two more buds growing now, so it should be in flower for quite a while - this flower is heading into its 3d week now.

    10/22/2005 2005

  • Dyed crass colors and sold in delis, the flower is almost universally scorned.

    What in Carnation? Lettie Teague 2010

  • The celosia flower is a bright, rippled crest, as seen in this speciment in a Puerto Vallarta garden.

    The celosia flower is a bright, rippled crest, as seen in this speciment in a Puerto Vallarta garden. © Linda Abbott Trapp 2008 2008

  • The stars are actually from some Christmas confetti I bought at Ikea a few years ago and the flower is a cut out from the ribbon I used on the front.

    Archive 2007-01-01 katelnorth 2007

  • That’s because the flower is a parasite and lacks leaves, stems and roots features typically used to identify and group plants.

    Archive 2007-01-01 2007

  • This flower is my entry for Flower Fest and the current alphabet is T. Image of thyme flower at the Bookmann.

    T is for Thyme « Salt and Pepper. 2007

  • The stars are actually from some Christmas confetti I bought at Ikea a few years ago and the flower is a cut out from the ribbon I used on the front.

    Fabric book making katelnorth 2007

  • I coach soccer and he is what we call a flower picker.

    blog: Awkward Soccer and a Conundrum 2008

  • Well, she took us to what she called the flower garden, because he wanted her to put a curse on a district attorney.

    Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil: A Savannah Story 1997

  • She ordered Dick up to work in the depressed-looking area before the house, which she called her flower garden, a task which Dick seemed perfectly willing to perform, by the way -- although his assistance would have been more than welcome at other work than tying scraggly rose bushes and protecting them from the winter already at hand.

    The Uphill Climb B. M. Bower 1905

Comments

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  • "plural In chem., fine particles of a substance, especially when raised by fire in sublimation, and adhering to the heads of vessels in the form of a powder or mealy deposit: as, the flowers of sulphur."

    -- from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

    May 5, 2017