afloweradj.adv.
/əˈflaʊə/, U.S. /əˈflaʊər/ literary.
A. adj.
In predicative use: flowering, blooming.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > part of plant > reproductive part(s) > flower or part containing reproductive organs > flower or flowering plant > [adjective] > having flowers or blossom > in bloom
blownc1000
full-blown1576
flowering1592
in beauty1629
flowered1633
in bloom1645
new-blown1656
blooming1664
blowing1667
in flower1697
in (their) flowers1697
abloom1729
blow1744
aflower1869
1869 Fraser's Mag. Dec. 762 I walk..Through meads profound with grasses all aflower And sorrel hanging like a sanguine mist.
1876 A. C. Swinburne Erechtheus 1147 Fields aflower with winds and suns.
1916 M. Leblanc Woman of Myst. iii. 56 A charming village, all aflower with geraniums and Marguerites, stood gathered about its church.
1952 J. K. Baxter in J. K. Baxter et al. Poems Unpleasant 10 Lads look up, up at the amorous vault From ledger-files and the shopgirl's breasts aflower.
1992 Matrix Summer 25/1 The world aflower only in locked hothouses.
B. adv.
In or into flower or bloom.
ΚΠ
1880 A. C. Swinburne Garden of Cymodoce in Songs Springtides 81 She..set all her fields aflower, her flowers aflame, To applaud him that he came.
1901 M. D. Babcock Thoughts for Every-day Living 172 Why, ere the bud had time to burst aflower, Must it be checked, and never see the light?
1918 D. H. Lawrence New Poems 18 Our faces come aflower To the night that takes us willing, liberates us to the hour.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2012; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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adj.adv.1869