Definitions

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A genus of plants, type of the order Papaveraceæ and the tribe Eupapavereæ, characterized by the dehiscence of the roundish capsule by pores under the lid-like summit; the poppy.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Bot.) A genus of plants, including the poppy.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun botany Any plant of the genus Papaver, the poppies.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun type genus of the Papaveraceae; chiefly bristly hairy herbs with usually showy flowers

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Latin

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Examples

  • Not that police would prosecute, but technically cutting a papaver somniferum flower that is legally growing in your yard and putting it in a vase on the kitchen table is a drug crime.

    The Volokh Conspiracy » If You’re Reading This, You’re Probably a Federal Criminal: 2009

  • Quaecunque regio producit simplicia, pro morbis regionis; crescit raro absynthium in Italia, quod ibi plerumque morbi calidi, sed cicuta, papaver, et herbae frigidae; apud nos Germanos et Polonos ubique provenit absynthium.

    Anatomy of Melancholy 2007

  • 'The papaver somniferum, or Eurasian poppy, is a delicate creature.

    The White Ninja Lustbader, Eric 1990

  • [93] It was at this period of his residence at Lichfield, that the present writer heard him strongly enforce the cultivation of _papaver somniferum_.

    On the Portraits of English Authors on Gardening, with Biographical Notices of Them, 2nd edition, with considerable additions Samuel Felton

  • The botanical name of the poppy, _papaver_, is said to be derived from its being commonly mixed with the pap, papa, given to children in order to ease pain, and procure sleep.

    The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 19, No. 529, January 14, 1832 Various

  • Consequently, canonists call the clause the "mother of repose": "sicut papaver gignit somnum et quietem, ita et hæc clausula habenti eam."

    The Catholic Encyclopedia, Volume 10: Mass Music-Newman 1840-1916 1913

  • But these names are scarcely the common names of the plant, but rather nicknames; the usual name is, and always has been, Poppy, which is an easily traced corruption from the Latin _papaver_, the Saxon and Early English names being variously spelt, _popig_ and _papig_, _popi_ and _papy_; so that the Poppy is another instance of a very common and conspicuous English plant known only or chiefly by its Latin name Anglicised.

    The plant-lore & garden-craft of Shakespeare Henry Nicholson Ellacombe 1868

  • Tall clumps of deep-red papaver 'Dream Queen,' spikes of blue larkspur, verbascum's towering, furry, gray-green leaves provoke discussion about the importance of vertical accents.

    SFGate: Top News Stories home@sfchronicle.com (Yvonne Horn 2011

  • In Afghanistan the Dutch cut and run in the face of bearded medieval wifebeaters and headchoppers who couldn't possibly imagine what a toilet pot is for except for washing papaver poppies.

    DowneastBlog Michael 2010

  • Some of the best medications that are still in use today came from plants: digoxin used for congestive heart came from Digitalis purpura, quinine for malaria from Cinchona bark, vincristine/vinlastine for cancer came from Vinca rosea, morphine as one of the most powerful analgesics, came from opium poppy (papaver somniferum), and many other plant alkaloids, and so on.

    News from The Scientist 2010

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