Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. An iris, especially a white-flowered form of Iris germanica.
- n. Heraldry A device consisting of a stylized three-petaled iris flower, used as the armorial emblem of the kings of France.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. In heraldry, a bearing as to the origin of which there is much dispute, some authorities maintaining that it represents the lily, others that it represents the head of a lance or some such warlike weapon. The fleur-de-lis has long been the distinctive bearing of the royal family of France. It is borne on some coats one, on others three, on others five, and on some semée, or spread all over the escutcheon in indeterminate number.
- n. In botany, the iris: commonly called flower-de-luce.
Wiktionary
- n. heraldry A design representing a flower whose three petals are joined together at the bottom, often used in heraldry, where it is particularly associated with the French monarchy.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Bot.) The iris. See flower-de-luce.
- n. A conventional flower suggested by the iris, and having a form which fits it for the terminal decoration of a scepter, the ornaments of a crown, etc. It is also a heraldic bearing, and is identified with the royal arms and adornments of France.
WordNet 3.0
- n. plants with sword-shaped leaves and erect stalks bearing bright-colored flowers composed of three petals and three drooping sepals
- n. (heraldry) charge consisting of a conventionalized representation of an iris
Etymologies
- French fleur de lys, "lily flower" (Wiktionary)
- Middle English flour de lice, from Old French flor de lis : flor, flower + de, of + lis, lily. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The new takeout box features those hues and a new, more refined logo, which includes the fleur-de-lis, which is ubiquitous in New Orleans.”
“The winning fedora was to be found atop a gent named Michael Woodlee , who kept things understated with three fleur-de-lis pins on a black hat.”
The Wall Street Journal: Hot Heads Unite to Mind the Plumage
“A fleur-de-lis done in gold on blue decorated each vault of the ceiling.”
“Hundreds of the little fleur-de-lis scales and seeds were scattered by the wind and even now some lie on the window ledge suspended in the threads of long-abandoned spiders' webs.”
“Wearing only a fleur-de-lis T-shirt and panties, Heather sat down on the mattress beside him and held her breath as she gently pulled the sheet back.”
“They ooh and aah over every aspect of the house—the skylight over the stairs, the fleur-de-lis wallpaper in the back upstairs bathroom, even the finished attic I use as my bedroom—but they always find some flaw, something to complain about.”
“Her ivory neck and face rises like a stamen from her red satin dress, perhaps evoking the Florentine fleur-de-lis.”
“Quebec's blue-and-white, fleur-de-lis flag was also out in force in St. Peter's Square in support of Brother Andre, a Canadian who legend says healed thousands of sick who prayed with him at his Montreal oratory.”
The Huffington Post: Mary MacKillop, First Australian Saint, Canonized
“The white -- jeans? sweats? we can't tell -- with beige fleur-de-lis detailing are just a little too Ed Hardy for our taste, okay?”
The Huffington Post: PHOTOS: First Lady Arrives Home In Questionable Pants
“The players wear the fleur-de-lis on their jersey, a sign of the city.”
The Huffington Post: Chasen Marshall: MLS Needs More Than a New Stadium
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘fleur-de-lis’.
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wallace
Remington, Windsor, prorector, wen, aver, mottle, seltzer, tepee, lapidary, effete, sotto, presbyopia and 343 more...
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Realia from Everywhere
Culturally defined terms and expressions from the four corners of the world
fjord, mistral steppe, tornado, tsunami, polder, kiwi, koala, sequoia, Abominable Snowman, paprika, spaghetti, empanada and 299 more...
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colleen's words
yellow, green, pie, blue, fur, people, incense, book, brown, avuncular, mountain, fog and 1316 more...
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Infinite Jest
Words taken from Infinite Jest by David Foster Wallace.
prorector, monograph, post-fourier, snuffle, rototremble, creatus, enfilade, subanimalistic, balletic, espadrilles, leonine, cirri and 1153 more...
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Heraldry
azure, gules, sable, vert, purpure, or, argent, ermine, vair, charge, ordinary, cross and 118 more...
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pleasure in words
portmanteau, pharology, cosmicism, amiable, vice, cognition, clavicle, veer, affulent, hospitable, dystopia, wunderkind and 59 more...
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they just SOUND beautiful to me
their meaning sometimes may not be that nice though
picturesque, dandelion, verbiage, libertarianism, jeopardize, fleur-de-lis, boudoir, imbroglio, liquorice, vicissitude, sartorial, lacustrine and 23 more...
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Symbols
names of symbols
geoid, lemniscate, yin-yang, mandala, cross, triquetra, torii, fylfot, flammulation, mascle, delta, crescent and 30 more...
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hanabiheidi's Words
conspicuous, errata, vaguely, indeed, spork, cleave, ah, applicable, subtlety, alleged, rapscallion, sinecure and 64 more...
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Alexandre Dumas
Words from the works of Alexandre Dumas. Work in progress...
viscount, chateau, musketeer, bon vivant, vendetta, corsica, countess, duel, cardinal, overthrow, treaty, fleur-de-lis and 17 more...
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sleepythief's favorite words:
susurrate, dovecote, apiary, grove, halcyon, obfuscate, prairie, prithee, inamorata, catacombs, pari passu, stravage and 30 more...
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lily
vanity
lily, lovelily, lily-livered, gild the lily, lily-white, lily-bellied, comelily, lilybelle, lilliputian, daylily, lilypad, liliʻuokalani and 22 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for fleur-de-lis.
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