blossom

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“
In another moment he is seen upon another blossom, as at D again, his pollen-laden back now coming in contact with the stigma, and the intention of the blossom is accomplished; for without this assistance from the insect the little lid remains close within its pocket, and the pollen is thus retained Illustration: Fig.

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Definitions (18)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (5)

  1. noun A flower or cluster of flowers.
  2. noun The condition or time of flowering: peach trees in blossom.
  3. noun A period or condition of maximum development. See Synonyms at bloom1.
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Examples (50)

  • She had just been trying a sample called apple-blossom, and was contemplating the result in the ivory hand-glass which belonged to her new dressing-case. —  The Ivory Dagger - Patricia WentworthMiss Silver 19
  • Some of my personal favorites are the cherry blossom which is a fine mix of dried cherries, marzipan and deep, dark chocolate. —  xml's Blinklist.com
  • Still to appear are the pink and white apple-blossom, the big, floppy quince blooms and the milky froth of hawthorn. —  Life and style | guardian.co.uk
  • In another moment he is seen upon another blossom, as at D again, his pollen-laden back now coming in contact with the stigma, and the intention of the blossom is accomplished; for without this assistance from the insect the little lid remains close within its pocket, and the pollen is thus retained Illustration: Fig. —  My Studio Neighbors
  • She was like an apple-blossom, all white and pink, when we came out here Mary had been so busy looking at her new clothes that she had paid little attention to the face above them, reflected in the mirror. —  The Little Colonel: Maid of Honor
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Roget's II Roget's II: The New Thesaurus

Used in the same context Used in the Same Context

bloom ·  flower ·  rose ·  foliage ·  bud ·  fruit ·  leave ·  petal ·  leaf ·  shrub ·  bush ·  perfume

Used in the same contextWord Family

blossom:   blossoms ·  blossomed
Roget's II: The New Thesaurus, Third Edition by the Editors of the American Heritage® Dictionary. Copyright © 2003, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

Etymologies (3)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English blōstm; see bhel-3 in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (2)

  1. Early modern English also blossum, from Middle English blossome, blossum, usually blosme, earlier blostme, from Anglo-Saxon blōstma, blōsthma, sometimes contr. blōsma (once blōsan, glossed by L. flos, apparently an error for blōsma), weak masculine, blōstm, strong masculine, flower, blossom (=Old Dutch blosem, Dutch bloesem = Middle Low German blosem, blossem), a blossom, flower, with suffixes -st + -ma, from √ *blō, in Anglo-Saxon blōwan, blow, bloom (see blow); less prob. from blōs- (= Latin florere, *flosere), extended stem of blōwan, blow. The first suffix appears in Middle High German bluost, a blossom, the second in Middle English blome, English bloom, etc., and both, transposed, in Icelandic blōmstr = Swedish blomster = Danish blomst, a flower; cf. Latin flos (flor-), a flower: see blow and flower.
  2. from Middle English blossomen, blosmen, from Anglo-Saxon blōstmian (= Dutch bloesemen), from blōstma, blossom: see blossom, n.
 

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/ˈblɑsəm/
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