Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of various woody climbing plants of the genus Stephanotis, especially S. floribunda of Madagascar, cultivated for its showy fragrant white flowers.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A genus of asclepiadaceous plants, of the tribe Marsdenieæ, distinguished from Marsdenia by its large white salver-shaped or funnelform corolla. There are about 14 species, of which 5 are natives of Madagascar, 5 of the Malay archipelago and southern China, 3 of Cuba, and 1 of Peru. They are smooth shrubby twiners, often high climbing, bearing opposite deep-green fleshy or coriaceous leaves, and beautiful fragrant waxy flowers in umbelliform cymes between the petioles. The cylindrical corolla-tube is dilated at the base and often again at the throat, and spreads into five overlapping oblique lobes. The fruit consists of two thick horizontal follicles, with numerous comose seeds. S. floribunda is a favorite evergreen greenhouse climber, commonly known by its generic name stephanotis, also as
waxflower , and sometimes, from its native country, as Madagascar jasmine or chaplet-flower. - n. [lowercase] A plant of this genus.
Wiktionary
- n. botany Any of the genus Stephanotis of climbing asclepiadaceous shrubs with large white waxy flowers in cymes.
- n. A perfume said to be prepared from the flowers of Stephanotis floribunda.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Bot.) A genus of climbing asclepiadaceous shrubs, of Madagascar, Malaya, etc. They have fleshy or coriaceous opposite leaves, and large white waxy flowers in cymes.
- n. A perfume said to be prepared from the flowers of Stephanotis floribunda.
WordNet 3.0
- n. any of various evergreen climbing shrubs of the genus Stephanotis having fragrant waxy flowers
Etymologies
- From the genus name. (Wiktionary)
- Greek stephanōtis, deserving a crown, from stephanos, crown, wreath, from stephein, to crown. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“It's tradition for bridal bouquets to contain white or cream-colored flowers such as stephanotis, roses, orchids, or lilies.”
“Armed with that little bit of knowledge which is indeed a dangerous thing, I was scornful of stephanotis, a perfectly nice kind of jasmine that smells lovely, blooms in every season (albeit in the tropics), and holds up well under the rigors of an actual, non-imaginary wedding.”
“Not that I knew anything at all beyond the fact that stephanotis, whatever it was, was always in the bride's bouquet.”
“These are the scents composed from lily-of-the-valley, white lily, stephanotis, narcissus and other flowers which are technically white florals and carry the same indolic compounds in their blossoms, but they are not warm and sultry - they are cool, even cold sometimes, and they are often made from flowers that give off their scent at night.”
White Floral Queen Part Eight: Best Of The Rest and Also-Rans
“I get just a whisper of oakmoss and I would not be surprised to learn that it has stephanotis too, though it is not in the least a soapy scent.”
“Another hands-free option is to wear flowers in your hair: a halo of stephanotis or a splash of gardenias or cattleya orchids on your best side.”
“A fairy-tale wedding gown festooned with tulle, ribbons, and exquisite beading wants a simple, low-key bouquet, such as a pavé of French tulips or a tight ball of stephanotis.”
“He had passed a tiring afternoon, and was glad of the slight smell of stephanotis provided by Annette.”
“Obliged by Annette to have one — a Rollhard with pearl-grey cushions, electric light, little mirrors, trays for the ashes of cigarettes, flower vases — all smelling of petrol and stephanotis — he regarded it much as he used to regard his brother-inlaw, Montague Dartie.”
“Not the rose, or the violet, or the hyacinth, or any of the lilies or stephanotis or boronia.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘stephanotis’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11250 more...
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Perfumery
perfume, perfumer, aromachologist, fougère, le nez, civet, perfumer's organ, Tapputi, Eau de Cologne, eau de toilette, eau de perfume, eaux and 92 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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looked up
Words I've come across while reading and looked up in the dictionary.
deesis, pendentive, revetment, aedicule, stemma, patera, ephod, entrepot, corbel, exedra, volute, archivolt and 1408 more...
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Another day, a whole nother list
rump, spot on, flank, outflank, rank, bedeck, leafhopper, apocope, academic, set-to, point of no return, cloy and 210 more...
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Feminine Beauty and Virtue
Particularly related to innocence and chastity; but a few broader things relating to goodness and virtue in general. I also added some words derived of flowers which represent certain virtues and c...
immaculate, unsullied, unblemished, undebased, lamb-like, chaste, decorous, unadulterated, unclouded, unalloyed, untainted, acacian and 8 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for stephanotis.
jinglebelljosie is said to refer to Happiness in marriage; desire to travel; and says "come to me" Feb 25, 2009