bluebelln.
/ˈbluːbɛl/, U.S. /ˈbluˌbɛl/ 1.
a. Any of several plants of the genus Campanula (family Campanulaceae), with delicate blue bell-like flowers; esp. (also more fully bluebell of Scotland) the harebell, C. rotundifolia, of open grass and heathland in Europe and North America.
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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] > bellflowers
bell-flower1578
bluebell1578
Canterbury bells1578
Coventry bells1578
Coventry Marians1578
Coventry rapes1578
fair-in-sight1578
gauntlet1578
haskwort1578
Marian's violet1578
throatwort1578
lady's looking glass1597
mariet1597
Mercury's violet1597
peach-bells1597
steeple bells1597
uvula-wort1597
Venus looking-glass1597
campanula1664
Spanish bell1664
corn-violet1665
rampion1688
Venus' glass1728
harebell1767
heath-bell1805
witch bell1808
slipperwort1813
meadow-bell1827
greygle1844
platycodon1844
lady's thimble1853
kikyo1884
witches' bells1884
balloon flower1901
fairy thimble1914
mountain bell1923
1578 H. Lyte tr. R. Dodoens Niewe Herball ii. xxiii. 174 Blew Belles whan their plante beginneth first to spring up..haue small rounde leaues.
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. vi. 111/2 Wild field Bell-flower, commonly called blew bells, are dented in the edges into five sharp points; set in a long and slender leafy foot-husk.
1709 E. Ward Secret Hist. Clubs xxiii. 267 The Quaker..ty'd up a huge Nosegay of common Pinks, Dasies, Bluebells and Butterflowers.
1795 R. Burns Poems & Songs (1968) II. 788 Where the blue-bell and gowan lurk.
1837 J. G. Lockhart Mem. Life Scott (1839) VII. 178 He had scrambled to gather blue bells and heath flowers.
a1872 W. Miller Blue Bell in Poets & Poetry of Scotl. (1877) II. 340 For glaumorie is round the sweet blue bell.
1903 H. Macmillan Deeper Teachings Plant Life 287 The Bluebell of Scotland..is the delicate flower that hangs its dainty, drooping head from a stem so slender than the slightest breeze can bend it.
1971 P. E. Kennedy Amer. Wild Flowers Coloring Bk. 18 Harebell, Bluebell (Campanula rotundifolia).
2011 Stirling Observer (Nexis) 2 Sept. (News section) 23 Delicate bluebells, better known elsewhere perhaps as harebells, nod their elfin cap-like shaped heads in response to the eddying breezes.
b. Any of several plants of the genus Wahlenbergia (family Campanulaceae), chiefly native to temperate regions of the Southern hemisphere, and typically having blue bell- or star-shaped flowers; esp. W. stricta, widespread in Australia.
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1839 Southern Austral. (Adelaide) 16 Oct. 4/1 May... The blue bell is almost the only flower in bloom this month.
1881 Garden 3 Sept. 236/1 The New Zealand Bluebell [sc. W. saxicola], somewhat resembles the white form of the Bluebell of Scotland.., but it has a narrower throat and more deeply cut segments—a very pretty flower.
1932 Victorian Naturalist 49 190 The ubiquitous Bluebell (Wahlenbergia) makes ‘lakes of blue’ in the distance.
1952 Sunday Herald (Sydney) 28 Dec. 12/2 Variable in size, according to the climate and soil in which it grows, our bluebell is often mistaken by nature-lovers for many different species.
2011 I. Fraser & P. Marsack Bush Capital Year 44 I love the hardy native bluebells, which go on flowering long after many other flowers have given a heat-stressed gasp and finished their display.
2. The spring-flowering bulb Hyacinthoides non-scripta (family Asparagaceae), which has hanging blue bell-like flowers, and is typically found in woodlands and hedgerows in western Europe (also called wild hyacinth). Also (more fully Spanish bluebell): the closely related H. hispanica, native to the Iberian peninsular, which has larger flowers and is commonly grown in gardens.
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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] > lily and allied flowers > bluebell and allied flowers > bluebell or wild hyacinth
harebell1387
crow-leekc1450
wild hyacinth1578
lily hyacinth1597
lily jacinth1597
culverkeysa1609
crow-bellsa1697
bluebell1755
wood hyacinth1897
1755 Gentleman's Mag. Nov. 491/2 The roots of the common Hyacinth, commonly called Blue-bells, are ranked among the poisonous plants.
1785 T. Martyn tr. J.-J. Rousseau Lett. Elements Bot. xviii. 256 The Wild Hyacinth or Blue-bells of the European woods.
1801 R. Southey Thalaba I. iv. 227 Amid the growing grass The blue-bell bends, the golden king-cup shines, In the merry month of May!
1834 M. Howitt Sketches Nat. Hist. 86 The nodding Blue-bell's graceful flowers, The Hyacinth of this land of ours.
1873 Gardener July 321 Of all the belles in the country-side, the Blue Bells of the wood carry the bell for grandeur and effect during what we fondly call the ‘merry month of May’.
1928 D. H. Lawrence Lady Chatterley's Lover xiii. 226 The chair gave a sort of scurry, reeled on a few more yards, and came to her end amid a particularly promising patch of bluebells.
1974 News (Friendswood, Texas) 10 Oct. 8/5 The familiar spring-blooming Spanish bluebell.
2010 A. Dyke & E. Emery in S. A. Laird et al. Wild Product Governance v. 143 One solution to the demand for bluebells..has been the import of both native and non-native bluebell species, mainly from Spain.
3. Any of various mertensias with hanging blue flowers; esp. the Virginia cowslip, M. pulmonarioides (also called M. virginica), a woodland plant of eastern North America.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Boraginaceae (bugloss and allies) > [noun]
ribeOE
hound's-tonguec1000
ox-tonguea1325
rotheren tongue?a1350
buglossa1400
dog's tongue?a1425
lungwort1538
anchusa1548
sheep's tongue1552
cowslip of Jerusalem1578
Our Lady's milkwort1578
pulmonaria1578
sage of Jerusalem1578
wild comfrey1578
maiden-lips1589
bugloss cowslip1597
viper's bugloss1597
viper's herb1597
ribbie1607
lithospermon1646
wall bugloss1650
lady's glove1668
Venus's navelwort1678
spotted comfrey1688
cynogloss1705
Jerusalem sage1736
lawn1778
Mertensia1836
stickseed1843
Virginian cowslip1856
bluebell1858
gooseberry fool1858
Jerusalem cowslip1866
borage-wort1882
echium1883
rose noble1886
milksile-
1858 Floricultural Cabinet Sept. 254 Mertensia Virginica (Pulmonaria of Linnæus)..popularly known as Blue-bell.
1899 C. MacMillan Minnesota Plant Life xxxvi. 372 The lungworts are also called bluebells, but they are not to be confused with the Canterbury-bells, which belong to a quite different family.
1959 Berkshire Eagle (Pittsfield, Mass.) 22 May 3/22 The Virginian Bluebell (Mertensia Virginica) makes a fine show right now.
2011 Richmond (Va.) Times-Dispatch (Nexis) 24 Apr. (Sports section) 5 Black bears are as Virginian as bluebells and ham.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, March 2013; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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