dead man's handn.
1. A zoophyte, Alcyonium digitatum, forming lobed fleshy masses: see alcyonium n.
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the world > animals > invertebrates > subkingdom Metazoa > grade Diploblastica > phylum Coelenterata > [noun] > class Anthozoa Actinozoa > order Alcyonaria > genus Alcyonium > member of
sea-foam1725
dead man's hand1755
dead man's toes1755
mermaid's glove1793
alcyonian1844
alcyonoid1857
dead man's finger1860
alcyonarian1861
dead man's thumb1863
sea-finger1876
1755 J. Ellis Ess. Nat. Hist. Corallines 83 Dead Man's Hand or Dead Man's Toes. This extraordinary Sea-production is indebted for the English name to the Fishermen, who often take it up in their Nets, when they are trawling for flat Fish.
1757 J. A. Schlosser in Philos. Trans. 1756 (Royal Soc.) 49 450 The alcyonium..commonly called dead-man's hand.
2.
a. A local name for Orchis maculata and O. mascula (cf. dead man's finger(s n. 1).
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular cultivated or ornamental plants > particular flower or plant esteemed for flower > [noun] > orchids > early purple orchids
standengussa1400
standelworta1500
gandergoose?1550
adder's grass1551
ragwort1552
cuckoo orchis1578
fool's ballocks1578
Palma Christi1578
standergrass1578
fool's stones1597
fox-stones1597
goat's stones1597
goat stones1597
testicles1597
dead man's finger1604
long purples1604
dead man's thumb1652
man orchis1670
monkey orchisa1678
meadow orchis1753
military orchis1784
male orchis1785
ram's horn1832
lady orchis1846
dead man's hand1853
scorpion plant1866
phalaenopsid1880
walking orchid1910
soldier orchid1934
1853 G. Johnston Terra Lindisfarnensis I. 193 Orchis maculata..Dead-man's-hand.
b. Also for ‘ Nephrodium Filix-mas, and some other ferns, from the appearance of the young fronds before they begin to open, resembling a closed fist’.
c. Also for the seaweed Tangle, Laminaria digitata (Britten and Holland).
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1894; most recently modified version published online March 2018).
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n.1755