Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A Eurasian primrose (Primula veris), usually having fragrant yellow flowers, widely cultivated as an ornamental, and long used in herbal medicine.
- n. See marsh marigold.
- n. The Virginia cowslip.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. The popular name of several varieties of Primula veris, a favorite wild flower found in British pastures and hedge-banks, and cultivated in the United States. It has umbels of small, buff-yellow, scented flowers on short pedicels. Its flowers have been used as an anodyne.
- n. In the United States, the more common name of the marsh-marigold, Caltha palustris.
Wiktionary
- n. A low-growing plant, Primula veris, with yellow flowers.
- n. North America, regional A plant in the buttercup family, Caltha palustris, growing in wet, boggy locations.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Bot.) A common flower in England (Primula veris) having yellow blossoms and appearing in early spring. It is often cultivated in the United States.
- n. In the United States, the marsh marigold (Caltha palustris), appearing in wet places in early spring and often used as a pot herb. It is nearer to a buttercup than to a true cowslip. See
Illust. of Marsh marigold.
WordNet 3.0
- n. swamp plant of Europe and North America having bright yellow flowers resembling buttercups
- n. early spring flower common in British isles having fragrant yellow or sometimes purple flowers
Etymologies
- From Middle English cowslyppe, from Old English cūslyppe ("cowslip"), from cū ("cow") + slyppe ("paste, viscid substance"), related to Old English slūpan ("to slip, glide, move softly"). Compare oxlip. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English cowslyppe, from Old English cūslyppe : cū, cow; see gwou- in Indo-European roots + slypa, slime; see sleubh- in Indo-European roots. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“We gathered a few, however, by way of doing our Maying, adding to them some violets scattered along the roadside, and a bunch of the golden flowers of the marsh marigold, which enticed us off the road into a low, boggy spot, by their bright blossoms; a handsome flower, this – the country people call it cowslip, though differing entirely from the true plant of that name.”
“Lordy massy, yest 'day arternoon I see yer Aunt Keziah an' yer Aunt Lois out a cuttin 'cowslip greens t'other side o' th 'river, an' the sun it shone so bright, an 'the turtles an' frogs they kind o 'peeped so pleasant, an' yer aunts they sot on the bank so kind o 'easy an' free, an 'I stood there a lookin' on 'em, an 'I could n't help a thinkin', 'Lordy messy, I wish t' I wus an old maid. ”
“_If a child be delicate, is there any objection to a little wine, such as cowslip or tent, to strengthen him_?”
“D'you know that the green of the cowslip is the most beautiful green in all Nature, Joan?”
“The warden and her volunteers had banished from the graveyard the regimental stripes of the lawn mower and the bleach lines of weed killers, encouraging instead a profusion of what nature writer Richard Mabey calls "the wild flowers of the English pastoral," such as primrose, lady's slipper and cowslip.”
“Roses vied for attention with more common blooms—cowslip, stock, gillyflowers, and white violets.”
“We happened to have already been growing this primula veris, the English cowslip, started from seed years ago.”
“That particular cowslip is different from the rest with that ball shape.”
“Comes dancing from the East, and leads with her The flow'ry May, who from her green lap throws The yellow cowslip, and the pale primrose.”
The Wall Street Journal: 'The Complete Poetry and Essential Prose of John Milton'
“Gaertner, though he took the greatest pains to cross the primrose and the cowslip, succeeded only once or twice in several years; and yet it is a well-established fact that the primrose and the cowslip are only varieties of the same kind of plant.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cowslip’.
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Love Across Kingdoms
Appendix of sorts to AIC, listing plants named with reference to animals and vice versa.
duck potato, hog plum, sorrel mare, horse aloe, horse chestnut, banana slug, tiger lily, buffalo grass, tuna fruit, monkey puzzle, bull kelp, hawkweed and 133 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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Flora
fenugreek, verbena, saxifrage, arbutus, calendula, nasturtium, lobelia, hellebore, rhododendron, philodendron, bellflower, heuchera and 449 more...
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Compounds That Look Freakish
You know who you are, freakish compounds. Though very useful, some of these words just don't seem right together--or, their meanings are so far from what the two (or more) component words suggest t...
nightjar, bullfinch, grassquit, bananaquit, ovenbird, waxwing, stonechat, wheatear, bushtit, wrentit, starthroat, godwit and 158 more...
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Ships
All of which are mentioned in O'Brian's Aubrey/Maturin novels, someplace or other. Most are British navy ships, some are French navy, and others aren't either one.
See also the list Sh...franklin, surprise, agamemnon, vanguard, truelove, minerva, diane, victory, sophie, cacafuego, euryalus, alastor and 382 more...
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Next!
salvific, redemptive, salvic, roil, changeling, barrow, burro, sow, swath, haymow, shock, sheaves and 190 more...
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Chromonyms
These chromonyms are defined as colors in at least one dictionary (mostly MW3). (Actually there's one fake, for reasons I'll explain someday.) They are all one-word nouns such as "kelly", which can...
absinthe, acacia, acorn, alabaster, alesan, almond, aloma, amaranth, amber, amethyst, anemone, anil and 821 more...
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compounds
blatherskite, buckskin, fishmonger, hoarfrost, applesauce, moonshine, fiddlehead, snickerdoodle, lodestar, lifeblood, brainchild, starry-eyed and 17 more...
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Blue remembered hills
Flora, fauna and other things common in the time and place where I grew up
millipede, dock leaf, snowdrop, nettle, ragwort, oxeye, moss, bindweed, lichen, hay, forget-me-not, bluebell and 62 more...
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mary, mary, quite contrary
jonquil, cypress, hydrangea, phlox, clematis, japonica, willow, columbine, petunia, lianas, hosta, magnolia and 47 more...
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wild as apples
Plants - no rhyme or reason.
hawthorn, rowan, birch, juniper, gillyflower, moss, pine, daphne, cowslip, larch, yew, tamarack and 12 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for cowslip.
jennarenn Probably a reference to what usually fertilized the flower. Jul 19, 2007
reesetee You may be close, arby--I think it comes from an Old English word that combines "cow" and "slime." Yuck. Should be a better word for such a nice flower. Jul 19, 2007
arby Does anyone know why it's called this? I always picture a cow slipping on something in the pasture. Perhaps its own cow pie? Jul 18, 2007
slumry an English primrose, Primula veris. Lovely! Jul 18, 2007