flower
(flaʊəʳ )
Word forms: flowers , flowering , flowered
1. countable noun A1
A flower is the part of a plant which is often brightly coloured, grows at the end of a stem, and only survives for a short time.
Each individual flower is tiny.
...large, purplish-blue flowers.
Synonyms: bloom, blossom, efflorescence
2. countable noun [usually plural] A1
A flower is a stem of a plant that has one or more flowers on it and has been picked, usually with others, for example to give as a present or to put in a vase.
...a bunch of flowers sent by a new admirer.
3. countable noun [usually plural] A1
Flowers are small plants that are grown for their flowers as opposed to trees, shrubs, and vegetables.
...a lawned area surrounded by plants and flowers.
The flower garden will be ablaze with colour every day.
4. verb
When a plant or tree flowers, its flowers appear and open.
Several of these rhododendrons will flower this year for the first time. [VERB]
Synonyms: bloom, open, mature, flourish
5. verb
When something flowers, for example a political movement or a relationship, it gets stronger and more successful.
Their relationship flowered. [VERB]
Synonyms: blossom, grow, develop, progress
6. singular noun [the NOUN of noun]
A person or thing that is described as the flower of something is the best part or example of it. [literary]
Those killed have been described as the flower of Polish manhood.
7. in flower phrase
When a plant is in flower or when it has come into flower, its flowers have appeared and opened.
Some of the daffodils are still in flower.
As one plant fades, another comes into flower.
8. See also flowered
Image of flower
© Le Do, Shutterstock
Vocabulary Builder
GARDEN lawn trellis shrub gate fence birdhouse garden furniture path flowers patio flowerpot Quotations:
' Tis the last rose of summer
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone'Tis the last rose of Summer
Left blooming alone;
All her lovely companions
Are faded and gone'Tis the last rose of Summer
There is no `Why' about the rose, it blossoms because it blossoms
It pays no heed to itself, and does not care whether it is seen
It pays no heed to itself, and does not care whether it is seen
The flower is the poetry of reproduction. It is an example of the eternal seductiveness of lifeThe Enchanted
When you take a flower in your hand and really look at it, it's your world for the moment
O my love's like a red, red roseA Red, Red Rose
Collocations:
beautiful flower cut flowers edible flowers flower garland flower grower flower motif flower nectar flower petal flower pollen flower pot flower seed flower spike flower stalk flower vase fragrant flowers fresh flowers fresh-cut flowers grow flowers in full flower male flower perennial flowers pick flowers plastic flower pollinate a flower pretty flowers produce flowers scent of flowers scented flower seasonal flower send flowers silk flower smell the flowers spring flower summer flower tiny flowers tropical flower tubular flower variety of flower wedding flowers
There was a garden with two white statues and beautiful bright flowers.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
I had no idea that these beautiful pink flowers were so dangerous.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
A beautiful wild flower that is easy to ignore because it is so common is the dandelion.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
They provide foliage to mix in with cut flowers.
The Sun (2016)
With cut flowers, when it comes to mixing varieties, less is more.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
Awarding plants rather than cut flowers was one of the options being considered.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
You can also add edible flowers to salads.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
Scatter over a few edible flowers (if using), then serve.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
The strong colour and scent that comes from edible flowers can really add a wow factor to a dish.
Times, Sunday Times (2014)
The son enchanted her to throw her flower garland to him.
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Hit by the spell, she threw her flower garland at the old ogre, and it landed on his head.
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It had been toe-curling enough for them that we had been met at the airport by a tour guide who had slipped flower garlands around our necks.
Times, Sunday Times
It's a brilliant evening show, and we dance into the night with our leis - the famous flower garlands.
The Sun
People holding flower garlands filled up the front rows of the crowd.
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They have had inquiries from a professional flower grower who wanted to use pitcher plants to keep insects away from his auriculas.
Times, Sunday Times
Hats off to her and the charcutiers, sheep farmers and flower growers making hay against the odds.
Times, Sunday Times
Merchants, woodworkers, general laborers, farm workers and flower growers participate in this feast.
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Several pairs of colourful shoes have been neatly arranged and a welcoming flower motif has been painted on a door.
The Sun
The plinth has tracery decorative detail on each corner and flower motif in a band around the top.
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Cast-in-place, bas-relief flower motifs are found on the dining room area exterior facade and general cornice line.
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The crest can be embroidered with pearls and goldwork or simple applique, usually using plant and flower motifs.
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Geometric shapes, stars and flower motifs are the most common themes.
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In built-up areas where flower nectar and pollen are less plentiful, wild bees are said to be 'outmuscled'.
The Sun
Adults feed on flower nectar from extrafloral nectaries.
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Adults have been recorded feeding on flower nectar.
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The caterpillars feed on brassica type plants and the adults feed on flower nectar.
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Adults feed on flower nectar, including viburnum and blackberry.
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He spotted an item about a machine that could etch a personal message on a flower petal.
Times, Sunday Times
Most among the latter carry a freshly cut section of a leaf or flower petal, which they grip in their mandibles and direct back over their bodies like umbrellas.
Christianity Today
In botany, the term tessellate describes a checkered pattern, for example on a flower petal, tree bark, or fruit.
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The 1950s saw decorated caps come into vogue, and during the 1960s colorful flower petal swim caps became popular.
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Copying this event opens a staircase beneath a large flower petal, done via a pipe in the water connected to a grinder speaker.
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Powder from pines in a nasal spray was found to line the nose, filtering out allergens such as tree and flower pollen.
The Sun
Traditionally massive fights would break out as people tried to soak one another in flower pollen or scented maize flour.
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Contact dermatitis from eggplant leaves and allergy to eggplant flower pollen have also been reported.
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The hat was an upside-down flower pot and had a cutaway peak, the better to see the ball.
Times, Sunday Times
This year's crop includes a folding crutch, a shirt with magnetic buttons to help people with arthritis and an origami-style flower pot.
Times, Sunday Times
Do not leave spare keys under the doormat, on top of the porch or in a flower pot near to the front door.
The Sun
It was coal-fired and subsidiary equipment included an umbrella, flower pot and barometer.
Times, Sunday Times
It's not a great idea to leave a spare key under the flower pot if you live in the most dangerous place in the country.
The Sun
The firm's flower seed trials and show garden have taken up residence close to the farm buildings.
The Sun
Let the 'hay' lie for a couple of days so the flower seed can drop out before you rake it up and remove it.
Times, Sunday Times
The city was long known as the flower seed capital of the world.
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Setting aside a patch of lawn you don't mow and scattering wild flower seeds mix can also make a huge difference.
The Sun
For the first time in half a century, sales of vegetable seeds have outstripped those of flower seeds.
Times, Sunday Times
Keep it there for four weeks to encourage a new flower spike to form, before moving it back into the warmer room.
The Sun
The compass plant forms a clump of beautiful cut leaves, rather like an acanthus, from which a startling hairy flower spike ascends into the sky.
Times, Sunday Times
You can also plant out hyacinths, but the size of the flower spike will halve in a couple of years.
Times, Sunday Times
The amazing 2m pink flower spike arches up with an evil 'head' on the end.
Times, Sunday Times
This should encourage a new flower spike.
The Sun
Remove any old or damaged leaves and dead flower stalks.
The Sun
Certainly, cut away really weedy stems and, if there are plenty, even some of the less chunky ones; vigorous, fat stems stand up better and produce stronger flower stalks.
Times, Sunday Times
Alliums, aquilegias and lady's mantle self-sow freely, so remove the spent flower stalks if you want to limit them.
Times, Sunday Times
Reddish brown sunken lesions (cankers) with bright red borders may develop on the flower stalks which may be stunted, distorted, and growing at an angle at the point of infection.
Globe and Mail
Although prostrate, it has erect flower stalks that give it a height of up to a metre.
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Which always bumps into a roadside flower vase after ten seconds, and the thieves get away.
The Sun
The flower vase fitted as standard to the dashboard was a nice touch but it wasn't enough.
Times, Sunday Times
It's got a make-up kit in it and it's got a mirror and it's got a flower vase.
Times, Sunday Times
Some were so thirsty they were found by relatives drinking water from flower vases, while others were left lying in their own mess.
The Sun
Favours, placeholders and flower vases may hold great memories, but do you really need them?
The Sun
It has clusters of fragrant white flowers like sweet peas.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Fragrant flowers in a full range of rich colours make a stunning display.
The Sun (2010)
A low hedge of English lavender provides silver green foliage year-round and fragrant flowers for the next two months.
The Sun (2008)
Instead, it was said to vanish, and when his followers lifted the sheet that covered him they found nothing but fresh flowers.
Times, Sunday Times
There are fresh flowers and the bathroom has a clawfoot bath and gorgeous toiletries.
Times, Sunday Times
Fresh flowers are a good idea but will need regularly replacing, so consider good-quality fakes — orchids work well.
Times, Sunday Times
They were big in the 1970s but interest waned, with people favouring fresh flowers.
Times, Sunday Times
Heat, pleasant breezes, intense sunlight and fresh flowers may play a critical role in encouraging us to be better versions of ourselves.
Times, Sunday Times
Not the sweet perfume of fresh-cut flowers, that's for sure.
Times, Sunday Times
The owners really look after guests — there's cake and tea on arrival and handmade chocolates and fresh-cut flowers in the rooms.
Times, Sunday Times
I could certainly enjoy a vase of fresh-cut flowers adorning the kitchen table and scenting the house.
Christianity Today
The six suites in this leatherbound playpen of faux mahogany and fresh-cut flowers comprise the inner sanctum of commercial flight that few ever witness.
Times, Sunday Times
An estimated 75% of the nation's citrus crop has been destroyed by the cold weather, with damages to some other crops such as strawberries and avocados and even fresh-cut flowers.
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And as we don't grow flowers as much as we used to, butterflies have nowhere to breed.
Times, Sunday Times
Where she leads, those who grow flowers for cutting, and even supermarkets, follow.
Times, Sunday Times
We planted seeds to grow flowers and vegetables.
Times,Sunday Times
Users can grow flowers with a touch of a fingertip or add a flurry of snow to a scene by shaking the device.
The Sun
Get a free pack of seeds - and plant them in your garden to grow flowers to help bees.
The Sun
Close by, a common spotted orchid colony is in full flower.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
The first horse chestnut trees are in full flower.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
The mauve haze of a lavender field in full flower has inspired artists for centuries.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
If one showed special aptitude she nurtured it like a fragile seedling in the hope that one day it might blossom into full flower.
NOBLE BEGINNNINGS (2004)
Androgynous inflorescences usually with female flowers at proximal nodes and male flower at distal nodes.
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Female flowers reddish; male flowers yellow and situated farther back on stems.
Times, Sunday Times
Female flowers loganberry-red with green stripes; male flowers yellow and globe shaped.
Times, Sunday Times
Female flowers green; male flowers drooping catkins, 3-5cm long.
Times, Sunday Times
Female flowers have a creamy yellow color and tend to grow singly while male flowers have a pink tint and tend to appear in threes.
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Decorative alliums are easy to grow in most soils and look great mixed with other perennial flowers.
The Sun
On the other hand, rhubarb, hardy perennial flowers and cherry and apple trees all grow stronger in spring after a chilly winter.
The Sun
Container-grown shrubs, roses and hardy perennial flowers will also establish quickly in wet soil.
The Sun
The most profitable are perennial flowers, herbs or shrubs: common varieties in 6in pots should fetch about 3.50, fancier ones 4-5 and rarities 6 and upwards.
Times, Sunday Times
The plants in this group are typical perennial flowers which are producing bulbs.
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I like baking and picking flowers.
The Sun (2009)
My mum and I always head into the garden together to pick the flowers for the family table.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
But it is now illegal either to pick the flowers or attempt to lift the plants in the wild.
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Apart from a plastic flower in the dash, it was lacking in character.
The Sun
The sound team - always an outpost of licentiousness - have decorated their desk-on-wheels with a plastic flower nailed to a broom handle.
Times, Sunday Times
Her roadside outlets, garlanded with plastic flowers, stand like fire buckets on the edge of a caldera — utterly impotent, but oddly comforting.
Times, Sunday Times
Amid the garish plastic flowers and the tropical palm leaves you will see the striped legs of a spider stirring.
Times, Sunday Times
Traditionalists are less enthusiastic and would see them as only marginally better than plastic flowers.
The Sun
The bee can then go inside to collect the nectar, and at the same time pollinate the flower.
Times, Sunday Times
Plants that bloom in winter often have a sweet scent to entice insects to visit and pollinate their flowers.
Times, Sunday Times
To ensure plenty of fruit, pollinate the flowers by hand, especially on trees kept inside.
Times, Sunday Times
This actually has the purpose of tempting night-flying moths to come and pollinate the flowers.
Times, Sunday Times
Hedgehogs and toads will keep your slug population down; bees and butterflies will pollinate your flowers; ladybirds and hoverflies will devour aphids; thrushes will crack open the shells of snails.
Times, Sunday Times
The plant is known for its pretty flowers.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
They are small but exceptionally pretty flowers.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
It's painted green with pretty flowers.
Times, Sunday Times (2008)
This variety will produce new flowers well into September.
Times, Sunday Times (2015)
Why don't my dahlias produce any flowers?
The Sun (2015)
How do I ensure it produces flowers and berries?
Times, Sunday Times (2006)
Just peace, quiet and sweet mountain air filled with the scent of flowers.
Times, Sunday Times
Not the scent of flowers, or the explosion of new summer fragrances, or the lazy odour of suntan lotion; but the unmistakable, overpowering, cloying whiff of self-tan.
Times, Sunday Times
Maybe you will see a bird or two, some bees or insects, and hear the rustle of grasses and leaves, smell the scent of flowers.
Times, Sunday Times
Nature bursts forth at every turn: the blossoming spring, the sweet scent of flowers, the golden sun.
Times, Sunday Times
It's not only shrubs that have scented flowers at this time of year.
Times, Sunday Times (2007)
This plant has the benefit of sweetly scented flowers in the dead of winter.
Times, Sunday Times (2013)
The pale yellow flowers are delightfully scented and blossom over a long period.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The gardens include patios and conservatories, seasonal flower beds, and fountains.
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The gardens feature citrus trees, a grand promenade, streams and small bridges and a variety of seasonal flower displays during the year.
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The supermarket also said that sales of seasonal flowers had soared.
Times, Sunday Times
Seasonal flower plantings provide year-round blooms.
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At the very least have three identical bunches of seasonal flowers in a row in low-profile vases.
Times,Sunday Times
Nobody phoned, wrote or sent flowers when I left.
Times, Sunday Times (2010)
Send flowers and write her a letter so she hears how sorry you are.
The Sun (2014)
He explains that on this day each year some couples send flowers to each other as a token of their affection.
Times, Sunday Times (2011)
She was wearing a drop-waisted silk dress, high-heeled shoes and a felt hat with a large silk flower perching on its wide, undulating brim.
Times, Sunday Times
Rare china, cutlery and glasses adorn a huge horseshoe-shaped table, decorated with silk flowers.
The Sun
The candle ignited some silk flowers and the fire spread and caused severe damage to the church.
Christianity Today
Silk flowers have shed their fusty image and are enjoying a renaissance.
Times, Sunday Times
Silk flowers and arrangements will also be on sale.
Times, Sunday Times
Its critics are walking across it, smelling the flowers and thinking it lovely.
Times, Sunday Times
First and foremost, take time to smell the flowers.
The Sun
I walk around the gardens, smell the flowers, look at the koi pond, listen to the waterfall, watch the clouds.
Times, Sunday Times
Take time to smell the flowers this weekend - all that fragrance comes for free.
The Sun
Stand and smell the flowers for hours on end.
Times, Sunday Times
This and the lovely spring flower baskets wrapped around every street lamp.
Times, Sunday Times
At this time of the year, we're busy preparing for spring flower shows.
Times, Sunday Times
This spring flower prefers shaded, nutrient-rich, moist, well-drained woodland.
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Spring flowers are up to four weeks late after the long, hard winter, possibly the coldest for 31 years.
Times, Sunday Times
The legacy of the cold winter lingers on, though, with spring flowers set back by several weeks.
Times, Sunday Times
For summer flower power out of direct sun, fuchsias are unbeatable.
Times, Sunday Times
Fancy an hour browsing this weekend to find yourself some dazzling summer flowers?
Times, Sunday Times
Some of the high summer flowers are still lingering on, often looking rather battered.
Times, Sunday Times
We are coming into the season of the high summer flowers.
Times, Sunday Times
Take cuttings of tender summer flowers such as fuchsias, heliotrope, ivy and zonal leafed pelargoniums for next year's flowering.
The Sun
The tiny yellow flowers are also edible.
Times, Sunday Times (2012)
In the autumn, it will produce tiny white, fragrant flowers.
The Sun (2015)
It is a tall plant, with sparkling, tiny white flowers on thin stems that climb up the top part of the stalk.
Times, Sunday Times (2016)
The towering mountains and tropical flowers were a far cry from the heat below.
Times, Sunday Times
Set by a garden filled with vibrant tropical flowers, it's the perfect romantic spot for breakfast.
The Sun
Tropical flowers are popular at the moment, she says.
Times, Sunday Times
However, the owners instead decided to plant tropical flowers and plants as a wildlife conservation project.
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More than 230 varieties of orchids and other tropical flowers brighten the landscape.
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Inside the tubular flower are stamens, including a flat, sterile stamen known as a staminode.
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The tubular flower has a flat pink or blue face up to a centimeter wide.
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The tubular flower has two long, narrow, pointed upper lobes which are generally rich purple.
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Each small tubular flower has a hairy calyx of sepals and a purple corolla no more than half a centimeter wide.
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The tubular flower has two long, narrow, pointed upper lobes which may be blue or purple.
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A wide variety of flower, vegetable, and tree seeds can also be used in seed paper for decorative effect.
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Plants with a great variety of flower and leaf colors are sold in nurseries.
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Additionally, these ants feed on a variety of flower nectars, cacti fruit, and the excretions of aphids feeding on yucca plants.
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She clears a benchtop and spreads out a variety of flowers.
Times, Sunday Times
More wild meadow than croquet lawn, they aim to recreate the original footprint of the building beneath by using local soils and varieties of flowers.
Times, Sunday Times
She pushes them into the world of wedding flowers and gets their firm online.
The Sun
We've got an allotment and are growing the wedding flowers.
The Sun
Yet strangely, in marriage this obvious motivational technique seems to wither away with the wedding flowers.
Times, Sunday Times
We discuss wedding flowers and favours and how she's going to do her hair.
The Sun
Translations:
Chinese: 花, 开花
Japanese: 花, 花が咲く
- victim
- victim advocate
- victimization
- victimize
- victimless
- victim of a criminal
- victim of burglary
- victim of fraud
- victim support
- victor
- Victorian
- Victoriana
- Victorian building
- victorious
- victory
- victory celebration
- victory march
- victory margin
- victory parade
- victory sign
- victory speech
- video
- video arcade
- video blog
- video camera