Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A usually dense, cylindrical, often drooping cluster of unisexual apetalous flowers found in willows, birches, and oaks. Also called ament1.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In botany, a scaly spike of unisexual flowers, usually deciduous after flowering or fruiting, as in the willow and birch; an ament. Also called cattail.
Wiktionary
- n. botany A type of inflorescence, consisting of a slender axis with many unisexual apetalous flowers along its sides, as in the willow and poplar.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Bot.) An ament; a species of inflorescence, consisting of a slender axis with many unisexual apetalous flowers along its sides, as in the willow and poplar, and (as to the staminate flowers) in the chestnut, oak, hickory, etc. -- so called from its resemblance to a cat's tail. See
Illust. of ament.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a cylindrical spikelike inflorescence
Etymologies
- From obsolete Dutch katteken, kitten, diminutive of katte, cat (from its resemblance to a kitten's tail), from Germanic *kattuz. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Catten or catkin is the term I like for the felines at that age.”
“The male flower, called a catkin, looks like a full-blown erection.”
“A. Pussy willows 'buds form the previous fall and open during February and early March to reveal their delightful petal-less, fuzzy silver "catkin" flowers.”
“Try as I might I cannot relocate it within its microworld and the more I handle its catkin inner sanctum the more it crumbles under my weight.”
“Through the catkin's core is a long green stem from which radiate tiny branchlets.”
“Although this year's catkin display looked disappointingly dull and thin compared with previous years, the golden danglers full of pollen were only the male flowers.”
“Click here for a picture of the catkin in "full bloom.”
“After pollination, the distended catkin wilts and sags, becoming increasingly brown and shriveled, until it falls to the forest floor with a dank damp thud.”
“On another nearby catkin, cell-phone-sized white slugs are also munching on blossoms.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘catkin’.
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A Galimafrée of Plant Anatomy & Morph...
A hodgepodge, jumble, jambalaya, *gallimaufry, circus and tent revival of plant anatomy and morphology terms and phrases - its a big tent, and no tickets are required.
*array, collecti...naked bud, leaf blade, brochidodromous, serrate, cork cambium, rhizomatous, flower stalk, deciduous sepal, petal, whorl, nectar gland, stamen and 1348 more...
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Naturals
dogtooth violet, adder's-tongue, ribbon fern, breadberry, echinate, stamen, aeolian, boreas, chinook, Eurus, firmament, edentata and 35 more...
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There's a word for it
catkin, pastiche, badonkadonk, biome, omphaloscopy, pogonophobia, reptation, anathema, xyst, commodify, commoditize, monetize and 68 more...
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Quaintnesses
For those who wish no words were ever forgotten
opprobrium, tedium, encomium, odium, ire, enmity, beguile, wile, brazen, popinjay, squit, hoity-toity and 1161 more...
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The O.U.P. Junior Dictionary Death Row
Another news story about words being removed from a dictionary before their time. See also the list of words added to the dictionary.
carol, cracker, holly, ivy, mistletoe, dwarf, elf, goblin, abbey, aisle, altar, bishop and 137 more...
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azd's Words
adamantine, abatial, ablate, ablative, abrogate, accretive, acromegaly, acrostic, actinism, actinic, acuity, adduce and 968 more...
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the gardener and apothecary's
bryony, chamomile, frond, sweet bay, laurel, monkshood, henbane, hemlock, parsley, rosemary, thyme, lady's mantle and 140 more...
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Hedgepiglet
Words for things both tangible and nonanthropic
rorqual, vellus, wrasse, rainbow bee-eater, tinkershire, lemonquat, boomslang, tufted vetch, cubeb, nipplefruit, madapple, wad and 447 more...
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use•ful
palmary, glossolalia, bothum, high-proof, synesthesia, odious, autochthonous, yawp, mordacious, dynamo, dishevel, titely and 414 more...
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Just 'cause I like 'em, C
cryptoxanthin, convent, calcar, chuckle, campanile, covet, complexion, campestral, chirography, counterscarp, caliginous, catabolism and 722 more...
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Summer 12
vitrine, viaduct, traceries, taxonomic, ternary, vicegerent, stratagem, vermeil, shippon, rostral, scherzando, retinue and 197 more...
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Luck in the Shadows
Words and phrases from Lynn Flewelling's book, Luck in the Shadows.
belly, barbican, pediment, withers, hirsute, oriel, tabard, telesm, thaumaturgy, switch, spargetaction, towheaded and 125 more...
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the favourites
These are words that I like; either because they sound amazing, mean pretty things, seem particularly suited to their assigned definition, or just have good mouthfeel. The best ones embody some com...
tatterdemalion, alpenglow, dapple, defenestrate, wacky, lissom, lithe, whisper, madcap, magniloquent, whimsy, sallow and 208 more...
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Time Out New York
words looked up while copyediting for this magazine
tonsorial, nudnick, doyenne, lothario, ebon, compere, cloaca, carom, evince, jocosity, profligacy, favela and 110 more...
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Permutations
There are 17576 different sequences of three letters (26 x 26 x 26). How many of them occur in words? General rules of engagement: mononyms only, lower case preferred to upper case, short preferred...
aaargh, niqaabi, Isaac, raad, baaed, haaf, laager, aah, kamaaina, Naajaat, aak, aalii and 637 more...
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My Lovelies
mafficking, myrmidon, magniloquent, senescence, seraglio, anodyne, sundry, portmanteau, dearth, scion, frangible, noetic and 34 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for catkin.
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