catkin

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Each catkin is not more than half an inch long, on a very short peduncle, and with a rounded denticulated crest.

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Definitions (4)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. noun A usually dense, cylindrical, often drooping cluster of unisexual apetalous flowers found in willows, birches, and oaks. Also called ament1.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (1)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

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Examples (50)

  • Tennyson speaks of “Native hazels tassel-hung.” The female bloom, which is the immediate precursor of the nut itself, is a pretty little pink star, which can be found on the same branch as the catkin but is much less conspicuous; and both are a very welcome sight, as almost the earliest hint of spring. —  Grain and Chaff from an English Manor
  • Like the majority of catkin, she had a natural reluctance to go near the water, and though she bathed without a problem—thank the gods—she had only learned to swim through the insistence of the OIA. —  Yasmine Galenorn - [Sisters of the Moon 1] - Witchling
  • The correct spelling of "catkin," defined as a cluster of willow tree blossoms, produced a gasp from the audience.
  • 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. —  The Taunton Gazette Home RSS
  • Bifurcated male catkin, Cedrus Libani 61 26. —  Vegetable Teratology An Account of the Principal Deviations from the Usual Construction of Plants
 

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. From obsolete Dutch katteken, kitten, diminutive of katte, cat (from its resemblance to a kitten's tail), from Germanic *kattuz.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. = Middle Dutch katteken = German kätzchen, catkin, literally a little cat (cf. Dutch katje, French chat and chaton, English cattail, catkin), in allusion to its resemblance to a cat's tail; from cat + diminutive -kin. Cf. catling,
 

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/ˈkætkɪn/
by American Heritage

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