Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun An eastern North American tuberous herb (Arisaema triphyllum) having three-lobed leaves and a striped, leaflike spathe that curls over an upright spadix.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun The Indian turnip, Arisæma triphyllum, of the natural order Araceæ: so called from its upright spadix surrounded and overarched by the spathe. See
Araceæ .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A common American spring-flowering woodland herb (
Arisæma triphyllum ) having sheathing leaves and an upright club-shaped spadix with overarching green and purple spathe producing scarlet berries; also calledIndian turnip . - noun A common European arum (
Arum maculatum ) with lanceolate spathe and short purple spadix; it emerges in early spring and is a source of a sagolike starch called arum.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun common European arum with lanceolate spathe and short purple spadix; emerges in early spring; source of a starch called arum
- noun common American spring-flowering woodland herb having sheathing leaves and an upright club-shaped spadix with overarching green and purple spathe producing scarlet berries
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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In those early summers she was no taller than the goldenrod, just a head above the jack-in-the-pulpit that flanked the trails between the barn and woods.
So Much Pretty Cara Hoffman 2011
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In those early summers she was no taller than the goldenrod, just a head above the jack-in-the-pulpit that flanked the trails between the barn and woods.
So Much Pretty Cara Hoffman 2011
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Box turtles are attracted to plants with red fruit such as strawberries, raspberries and jack-in-the-pulpit plants.
David Mizejewski: Garden for Wildlife Month Ends This Weekend David Mizejewski 2011
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Standing in the doorway, Georgia was fascinated as the bright-eyed woman held up a jack-in-the-pulpit plant in order to let the students examine the unusual shapes and subtle shades of its interior.
Portrait of An Artist Laurie Lisle 1986
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The modest violet, the jack-in-the-pulpit, even the four-leaf clovers will tell you stories about the forest and the field, so that wherever you walk you will be surrounded by your friends.
The Elson Readers, Book 5 Christine M. Keck
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It was only to be the edging on a shawl for her, but he spent three days and two nights on it; and then she asked him to make it over with jack-in-the-pulpit inset, because she was sure to grow tired very soon of Sweet William; then she changed her mind about jack-in-the-pulpit and decided on wintergreen berries.
The Best Short Stories of 1915 And the Yearbook of the American Short Story Various 1915
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Gray olive trees were on either side, and on the bordering banks grew lovely wild flowers, starry purple anemones, jack-in-the-pulpit lilies, yellow oxalis, moon-daisies, and the beautiful genista which we treasure as a conservatory plant in England.
The Jolliest School of All Angela Brazil 1907
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I'll not deny that flowers pop up their heads afield without such call, that the jack-in-the-pulpit speaks its maiden sermon on some other beckoning of nature.
Journeys to Bagdad 1906
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There were sedgy plants in bloom, jack-in-the-pulpit, and what might have been a lily, with a more euphonious name.
A Little Girl in Old Salem Amanda Minnie Douglas 1873
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Britain -- the "lords and ladies" of the village lanes, the foreign counterpart of our well-known jack-in-the-pulpit, or Indian-turnip, with its purple-streaked canopy, and sleek "preacher" standing erect beneath it.
My Studio Neighbors William Hamilton Gibson 1873
anydelirium commented on the word jack-in-the-pulpit
A wildflower, scientifically and botanically known as Arisaema triphyllum. Also known informally as Indian Turnip.
February 17, 2008