Johnny-jump-up love

Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun Any of various plants of the genus Viola, especially heartsease or the yellow California violet V. pedunculata.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun The pansy, Viola tricolor; also, the bird-foot violet, V. pedata.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun North America Any of several violets or pansies.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a common and long cultivated European herb from which most common garden pansies are derived
  • noun common violet of the eastern United States with large pale blue or purple flowers resembling pansies

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[From its quick growth.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Johnny + jump + up.

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word Johnny-jump-up.

Examples

  • But Johnny-jump-up suits 'em best, for it kind o 'tells how they come up in the spring.

    Aunt Jane of Kentucky Eliza Calvert Hall

  • So arose Johnny-jump-up for the Viola tricolor, and basswood for the common European linden or lime-tree (Tilia), and locust for the Robinia pseudacacia and its allies.

    Chapter 2. The Beginnings of American. 3. New Words of English Material Henry Louis 1921

  • In a very short time a butterfly was brought out, and harnessed to a first-class Johnny-jump-up.

    Ting-a-ling Frank Richard Stockton 1868

  • One of the best loved is the old-fashioned Johnny-jump-up (V. tricolor), a viola with dark purple upper petals and lower petals in shades of lavender-blue, yellow or white, often with dark purple markings, Plants are short-lived but readily self-seed, providing pleasurable discoveries of new plants in unexpected places each year.

    DailyHerald.com > News 2009

  • One of the best loved is the old-fashioned Johnny-jump-up (V. tricolor), a viola with dark purple upper petals and lower petals in shades of lavender-blue, yellow or white, often with dark purple markings, Plants are short-lived but readily self-seed, providing pleasurable discoveries of new plants in unexpected places each year.

    DailyHerald.com > News 2009

  • However, I can let you have a nice easy Johnny-jump-up, if you say so. "

    Ting-a-ling Frank Richard Stockton 1868

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.