Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of several plants of the genus Helianthus, especially H. annuus, having tall coarse stems and large, yellow-rayed flower heads that produce edible seeds rich in oil.
- n. The seedlike fruit or the seeds of this plant.
- n. A brilliant yellow to strong or vivid orange yellow.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A plant of the genus Helianthus, so named from its showy golden radiate heads. The common or annual sunflower is H. annuus, a native of the western United States, much planted elsewhere for ornament, and for its oily seeds, which are valued as food for poultry and as a remedy for heaves in horses. (See also
sunflower-oil , below.) It is naturally robust; but in cultivation it grows to a height of 10 or 12 feet; the disk of the head broadens from an inch or so to several inches, the leaves becoming more heart-shaped and often over a foot long. A favorite profusely flowering garden sunflower known as H. multiflorus is referred for origin to the same species. Other cultivated species are H. orgyalis of the great plains of Nebraska, etc., a smooth plant 10 feet high, with narrow graceful leaves, and H. argophyllus of Texas, with soft silky white foliage. H. tuberosus is the Jerusalem artichoke (which see, underartichoke ). Bee Helianthus, and cut underauthoclinium . - n. The rock-rose or sun-rose. See Helianthemum.
- n. The marigold, Calendula officinalis, from its opening and closing with the ascent and descent of the sun.
- n. In civil engineering, a full-circle protractor arranged for vertical mounting on a tripod. It has two levels arranged at right angles with one another, adjusting devices, and an adjustable arm pivoted to the center of the protractor; the tripod mounting is effected by means of an open-ended tube to which the protractor is attached, the tube being passed vertically through the ball of the ball-and-socket joint of the tripod, and held therein by a set-screw. The instrument is used in measuring sectional areas of tunnels.
- n. In writing-telegraphs and other electrical instruments and apparatus, a series of alternate conducting and insulating segmental pieces or tablets symmetrically arranged in circular form, each conducting piece being connected with a source of electricity and also with the ground. It is operated by a tracer (also having a ground connection) rotated over the series, and making a circuit in passing over any of the conducting segments and breaking it when passing over any of the insulating segments.
Wiktionary
- n. Any plant of the genus Helianthus, so called probably from the form and color of its floral head, having the form of large disk surrounded by yellow ray flowers; the commonly cultivated sunflower is Helianthus annuus, a native of America.
- n. colour a bright yellow, like that of the flower petals.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. Any plant of the genus Helianthus; -- so called probably from the form and color of its flower, which is large disk with yellow rays. The commonly cultivated sunflower is Helianthus annuus, a native of America.
WordNet 3.0
- n. any plant of the genus Helianthus having large flower heads with dark disk florets and showy yellow rays
Etymologies
- sun + flower (Wiktionary)
Examples
“The contrast of shape and colour with the ragged/spiky sepals of the sunflower is stunning!”
“In today's picture: another spent sunflower from the garden (I harvested the seeds for sowing next spring); homegrown tomatoes, too!”
“Visitor unable to see the Chinese artist's 100m porcelain sunflower seeds was told they were creating too much ceramic dust”
The Guardian: Ai Weiwei's Turbine Hall installation closed 'over health and safety concerns'
“Dr Kulze says to minimize your intake of omega-6 fats (like in sunflower, safflower, corn and cottonseed oils) along with saturated and trans fats to ensure your risk is at its most reduced.”
The Huffington Post: Christina Pirello: Real Things You Can Do to Prevent Breast Cancer
“This collection of 4 dinner plates features a collage of floral patterns in sunflower gold, olive green, spicy orange, lavender and sky blue.”
“I can name sunflower and dandelion and bloodroot and trillium and verbena.”
“Just a bit of trivia. i believe the name “Jerusalem” in this case is a corruption of the italian word for sunflower, which is “girasole” i.e. turn to the sun.”
What I Ate Last Night Department - Bitten Blog - NYTimes.com
“An elephant can be identified as a sunflower -- both have long stems.”
“We called the sunflower-seed ball mapi ', the same name as for sunflower.”
“Uncle Wiggily and the sunflower, that is if the sunfish doesn't spread the butter too thick on the baby's bread with his tail and make her slide out of her high chair.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sunflower’.
-
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 11184 more...
-
IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
veal, valve, used, yak, wax, wan, teak, vat, vas, strip, use, strap and 4515 more...
-
Home Sweet Home
Actual Towns and Cities with Poetic Names.
If you know where the town is located please put that in the comments. All of mine came out of a zip code directory.phlox, blue mountain, battles wharf, robinwood, blue spring, coffee springs, cottage hill, hazel green, highland home, sunflower, three notch, circle and 94 more...
-
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...
-
Yellows
sunflower, sunshine, amber, apricot, corn, cream, goldenrod, gold, flax, gamboge, lemon, mustard and 2 more...
-
• Join other network
Interesting Wi-Fi network names around us.
Peace and Love, lollipopguild, nothingsignified, ProblemsWithSpoon..., French Connection, Junkie and the Lush, Mr Peanut, don't f** touch, howdy neighbors, playboy9635, sunflower, fucking hippies and 38 more...
-
♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
-
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...
-
eggplantia5's Words
scintillate, marvel, cranberry, oscillate, triumph, bamboozle, grimace, magical, book, hexagon, cipher, compendium and 2727 more...
-
Words Covered in Faery Dust (S)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
sabian symbols, saffron, sagacious, sage, salamander, sally lunn, salmon, salsify, salt water taffy, samhain, sand dollar, sandalwood and 270 more...
-
elvesoncrack's Words
lachrymose, blustering, fjord, chihuahua, chiffon, catalytic, stile, gefilte, prosh, thwart, ralph, ickle and 379 more...
-
chromatica
cerulean, vermilion, sienna, terracotta, red, yellow, umber, green, blue, ultramarine, burnt sienna, cadmium yellow and 108 more...
-
Stately Plants
The flowers and trees of states and nations.
camellia, forget-me-not, saguaro cactus, apple blossom, Calafornia poppy, Rocky Mountain, mountain laurel, peach blossom, American beauty rose, orange blossom, Cherokee rose, pua aloalo and 210 more...
-
Amusing words
interesting words
bonce, furcate, tapioca, tillage, desalinate, garish, litmus, roadhog, azoic, haberdasher, imbroglio, polliwog and 802 more...
-
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...
-
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 sunflower.

vanishedone '“People sometimes ask “What is the big deal about sunflower?�? says David Lentz, professor of biological sciences... “First of all, sunflower is one of the world's major oil seed crops and understanding its ancestry is important for modern crop-breeding purposes," Lentz says. "For a long time, we thought that sunflower was domesticated only in eastern North America, in the middle Mississippi valley — Arkansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Illinois. This is what traditional textbooks say. Now it appears that sunflower was domesticated independently in Mexico."'
Science Daily Apr 29, 2008
treeseed a town in Alabama, USA Feb 26, 2008