any iridaceous plant of the widely cultivated genus Gladiolus, having sword-shaped leaves and spikes of funnel-shaped brightly coloured flowers
2. anatomy
the large central part of the breastbone
Word origin
C16: from Latin: a small sword, sword lily, from gladius a sword
sword lily in American English
noun
a gladiolus
Word origin
[1780–90]This word is first recorded in the period 1780–90. Other words that entered Englishat around the same time include: carbon, classification, fluff, rosette, vampire bat