Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An annual Eurasian plant (Centaurea cyanus) in the composite family, cultivated and also naturalized in North America and having showy heads of blue, purple, pink, or white flowers. Also called bachelor's button.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A flower or plant growing in grain-fields, as the wild poppy, and especially the bluebottle, Centaurea Cyanus.
Wiktionary
- n. A small annual species of aster, Centaurea cyanus, usually with bushy blue flowers which grows natively in European cornfields (i.e. wheatfields).
- n. Cornflower blue.
- adj. Of a blue colour, as that of the cornflower.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A conspicuous wild flower (Centaurea Cyanus), growing in grainfields.
WordNet 3.0
- n. plant of southern and southeastern United States grown for its yellow flowers that can be dried
- n. an annual Eurasian plant cultivated in North America having showy heads of blue or purple or pink or white flowers
Etymologies
- So called because it is found in cornfields.
Examples
“He has isolated the characteristic pigment and investigated its chemical nature from a rather large number of flowers, such as cornflower, roses, pelargonia, larkspur, hollyhock, etc., as well as from some fruits, such as bilberries, black grapes and cranberries.”
“Bachelor’s Button Also called cornflower, these annuals make 1-inch flowers in shades of red, white, and blue on 2-foot stalks.”
“The fantasies begin to take shape: first a porch with splintered cornflower blue floorboards, then the dog everyone thinks is stupid.”
“Vichy Laboratoires's Purete Thermale eye makeup remover soothes sensitive eyes with cornflower water and pro-vitamin B5.”
The Washington Post: Trend Report: Fall's new bounty of beauty
“Though their plates were heaped with smoked pork and caramelized onions and leeks and cornflower cakes, they sat in silence, unsure what to say.”
“Allison had great big breasts and enormous cornflower eyes, which were opened even wider than normal at the sight of all that money.”
“For example: green tea extracted in pure organic grape alcohol or cornflower extracted in glycerin.”
The Huffington Post: Deborah Burnes: The Good, the Bad and the Beautiful
“When I close my eyes again, all I can see is cornflower blue eyes, the crumbly eye shadow she wears on occasion.”
“Judging by the stories that ran the next day, fewer journalists were interested in who won the match than what Kate was wearing—a cornflower blue gown by the U.S. designer BCBG Max Azria.”
“Each has a sky as blue as a cornflower, and clouds of billowy cotton.”
The Huffington Post: Claudia Ricci: Seeing Red -- "Breathing Rainbows into Her Toes"
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cornflower’.
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Uncommon Colours
azure, myrtle, periwinkle, viridian, jade, emerald, lime, chartreuse, asparagus, celadon, harlequin, olive and 147 more...
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Crayon Colors
This is a continuing list of Crayon Colors past and present. As I find new ones added to the "box", I will add them here as well!
black, blue, brown, apricot, bittersweet, blue green, blue violet, brick red, burnt sienna, carnation pink, cornflower, flesh and 134 more...
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Archaic Colours
Words for colours that have fallen out of use.
aeneous, croceate, cretaceous, cramoisy, corbeau, coquelicot, coccineous, claret, cinerious, chrysochlorous, chlorochrous, cesious and 128 more...
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Flora
Flowers and plants have some of the most beautiful names.
These are often the common names, as opposed to the scientific or botanical names.daffodil, gardenia, tulip, snapdragon, violet, orchid, bleeding heart, daisy, lily, lilac, narcissus, rose and 278 more...
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Blues
cerulean, azure, cobalt, lapus lazuli, periwinkle, denim, ultramarine, sapphire, cyan, bleu, azzurro, democrats and 14 more...
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You are the all-singing, all-dancing crap of th...
Words from Fight Club (novel/film)
nitric acid, mischief, mayhem, soap, murder-suicide, bitch tits, seminoma, pornographic, chakra, dementia, steroids, tumor and 3 more...
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Plant Identity Crisis
Might as well round things off, eh? See the sire list, AIC, and LAK, the firstborn.
cornflower, rose of sharon, moss rose, cabbage rose, acorn squash, apple mint, lemon balm, rose mallow, rose periwinkle, rose geranium, ivy geranium, lemon geranium and 36 more...
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I Got The Blues
Always my favorite color, and it comes in so many shades.
cyan, azure, cobalt, navy, sky, midnight, aqua, powder, blue, sapphire, cerulean, aquamarine and 5 more...
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