clover

American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition

1. n. Any of various herbs of the genus Trifolium in the pea family, having trifoliolate leaves and dense heads of small flowers and including species grown for forage, for erosion control, and as a source of nectar for honeybees.
2. n. Any of several other plants in the pea family, such as bush clover and sweet clover.
3. n. Any of several nonleguminous plants, such as owl's clover and water clover.
4. idiom. in clover Living a carefree life of ease, comfort, or prosperity.

Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia

1. n. A name of various common species of plants of the genus Trifolium, natural order Leguminosæ. They are low herbs, chiefly found in the temperate regions of the northern hemisphere. There are about 200 species, of which about 50 are natives of the United States, chiefly west of the Rocky Mountains. Many are valuable forage-plants. The red, purple, or meadow clover, T. pratense, is extensively cultivated for fodder and as a fertilizer. The white or Dutch clover, T. repens, is common in pastures. The Alsike clover, T. hybridum, and the Italian, carnation, or crimson clover, T. incarnatum, are sometimes cultivated. Other species, mostly weeds of little value, are the yellow or hop clover, T. agrarium; the stone, hare's-foot, or rabbit-foot clover, T. arvense; the strawberry clover, T. fragiferum; the buffalo clover, T. redexum; the zigzag clover, T. medium, etc. The above are all natives of Europe, though several are widely naturalized.
2. n. One of several plants of other genera belonging to the same order. Species of Melilotus are known as sweet clover and Bokhara or tree clover. Bur- or heart-clover is Medicago maculata; Calvary clover, the spiny-fruited Medicago Echinus; bush-clover, species of Lespedeza; bird's-foot clover, Lotus corniculatus and Trigonella ornithopodioides; prairie clover, species of Petalostemon, etc.
3. n. In Texas, Marsilea macropoda, a plant of some forage value in shady bottoms. See Marsilea.
4. n. Same as annual red clover.
5. n. In California: Trifolium fucatum, a true clover, probably with some allied species or varieties. These are succulent plants with light-colored foliage.
6. n. T. obtusiflorum, a species having an acid taste and clammy with an acid exudation. The Indians regard it as one of the best for eating, the exudation being generally washed off. Also called salt clover and, as growing near springs, spring-clover.
7. n. Same as bear-clover.

Wiktionary

1. n. botany A plant of the genus Trifolium with leaves usually divided into three (rarely four) leaflets and with white or red flowers.

GNU Webster's 1913

1. n. (Bot.) A plant of different species of the genus Trifolium; as the common red clover, Trifolium pratense, the white, Trifolium repens, and the hare's foot, Trifolium arvense.

WordNet 3.0

1. n. a plant of the genus Trifolium