Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A low-growing Eurasian shrub (Calluna vulgaris) growing in dense masses and having small evergreen leaves and clusters of small, bell-shaped pinkish-purple flowers. Also called ling2.
- n. See heath.
- n. A grayish purple to purplish red.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Heath: especially applied to Calluna vulgaris, the common heather. It differs from the other true heaths in possessing astringent properties, and is employed by both fullers and dyers. See cut under
Calluna . - n. The crowberry, Empetrum nigrum.
- n. A tweed or similar fabric, usually 56 inches wide, woven of heather-wool, and presenting a color-effect like that of heather. Also called heather mixture.
- n. Menziesia pilosa. See Menziesia.
Wiktionary
- n. botany An evergreen plant, Calluna vulgaris, with spiky leaves and small purple, pink, or white flowers.
- n. botany The Ericaceae family.
- n. botany Various species of the genus Erica.
- n. botany Various species of the genus Cassiope.
- n. A purple colour with a tint of pink and blue.
- adj. Of a purple colour with a tint with pink and blue.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Scot. Heath.
WordNet 3.0
- n. common Old World heath represented by many varieties; low evergreen grown widely in the northern hemisphere
- n. interwoven yarns of mixed colors producing muted greyish shades with flecks of color
Etymologies
- Alteration (influenced by heath) of Middle English hather, probably from Old English *hǣddre. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The 'county set' have tailored things made out of fine suiting-cloth in heather shades and stripes.”
“If heather is truly a professor of history – then she probably teaches at BOB JONES UNIVERSITY.”
Think Progress » Frist and Hastert Let Vaccine Industry Write Its Own Multi-Billion Dollar Giveaway
“We also discovered during lunch that heather is very comfortable to sit on.”
“The only place on the heath where the heather is not all-powerful is a low, stony ridge which crosses it.”
“Sedum ‘Vera Jameson’ lines this area, referred to as the heather bed for it once was home to over twenty heaths and heathers.”
“Calluna, the flowering shrub also known as heather, seems to have been appreciated not so much for its beauty as its handiness as a broom.”
The Wall Street Journal: From the Teeth of the Lion to the Dandelion
“It is called heather honey with a very distinctive flavour.”
“I shaved off the remnants of my moustache, and got inside an ancient suit of what I believe is called heather mixture.”
“In the third-story front room of the house of the shrine dwelt a Scotch artist named MacGuilp, who was a grand amateur of these pipes, and who declared that no sound in the world was so sweet to his ear as the bagpipes: they recalled the heather, haggis, and the Lothians, and the mountain dew, ye ken, and all those sorts of things.”
The Continental Monthly, Vol. 1, No. 4, April, 1862 Devoted To Literature And National Policy
“Highlanders think it very lucky to [264] find the white heather, which is the badge of the Captain of Clan Ronald.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘heather’.
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CULI - wine-tasting adjectives
In this area of expertise nouns are frequently used as adjectives (almond, bacon, cider, diesel, fennel, fresh-cut hay, wool) or new adjectives are formed (appley, berrylike, citrusy, full-bodied, ...
acetic, acidic, aged, angular, appley, astringent, attractive, austere, berrylike, big, bitter, brawny and 511 more...
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Common English Words That Are Also Fi...
art, bob, bill, grace, hope, john, heather, pat, amber, jack, dale, glen and 170 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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Girls Names
List of Girls names.
carla, jamie, ashley, kaitlyn, mae, lynn, nicole, sierra, mary, ann, manda, sara and 130 more...
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Scrabble Names
Given names that were acceptable for play the last time I checked the OWL.
kris, ray, barb, morris, kat, mark, maria, erica, marge, mason, hunter, hazel and 168 more...
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Fashion Colors
Names of colors in fashion and advertising
periwinkle, oxblood, mauve, avocado, pink mist, cobalt, sage green, daiquiri green, rococco red, neon yellow, maize, pastel mint and 59 more...
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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Colors
Words for colors, including things so associated with a color that they can be used in reference to a color.
red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet, purple, navy, lavender, turquoise, chartreuse and 218 more...
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cindywrites's Words
chiaroscuro, mollycoddle, feckless, evocative, provocative, invocation, beckon, allay, becalm, console, lull, soothe and 479 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (H)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
haberdashery, hailstone, halcyon, halibut, halo, hamadryad, hammock, harangue, harbour, harebell, harlequin, harp and 104 more...
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mager's Words
enigmatic, pragmatic, pulchritudinous, nincompoop, annihilation, sociality, entailment, acrosome, egalitarian, culture, technocracy, shenanigan and 541 more...
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If-Christ-Had-Not-Died-For-Thee-Thou-...
Words that have been used as baby names, including virtue names, nature names, place names, etc.
The title is an actual name given to a Puritan boy in the 17th century.faith, hope, grace, charity, chastity, prudence, patience, temperance, river, phoenix, stone, violet and 455 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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Warp, Woof, Wimble
My favorite words.
prurient, locution, mondegreen, vaunted, lugubrious, larine, warp, woof, wimble, ineffable, pyknic, sodden and 114 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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wordrainbow
A big list of color names for use on wordrainbow.com
emerald, cherry, coffee, cream, almond, gold, kiwi, green, grass green, aquamarine, beet red, sepia and 714 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for heather.
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