thistle

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It's the flower of France, you know--just as the thistle is the There, now!'

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Definitions (60)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun Any of numerous weedy plants, chiefly of the genera Cirsium, Carduus, or Onopordum of the composite family, having prickly leaves and variously colored flower heads surrounded by prickly bracts.
  2. noun Any of various similar or related plants.

Toggle Century definitions Century Dictionary (56)

Toggle GNU Webster definitions GNU Webster's 1913 (1)

Toggle WordNet definitions WordNet (1)

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Examples (50)

  • The Larra makes for the thistle, the Vanessa for the nettle, the Clytus for the ilex, and the Crioceris for the lily. —  Fabre, Poet of Science
  • That includes yellow star thistle, a noxious weed that seems to be running wild in southwest Oregon, he said. —  MailTribune.com Latest Headlines
  • There is another relative of milk thistle, and this is called Blessed thistle. —  Find Free Articles - ArticlesBase
  • The third invader targeted is Canada thistle, an exotic species introduced in North America from southeast Europe and Asia in the 1600s. —  Top Headlines at CU Boulder
  • Milk thistle, artichoke and couchgrass are all safe, effective herbal remedies for eliminating gallstones without the need for surgery. —  All Categories Featured Content - Associated Content
 

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This word has been looked up 95 times.

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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. Middle English, from Old English thistel; see steig- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formerly also or dial. thissle; from Middle English thistel, thistile, thystylle (plural thistles), from Anglo-Saxon thistel = Dutch distel = Middle Low German Low German distel = Old High German distula, distil, Middle High German G. distel = Icelandic thistill = Swedish tistel = Danish tidsel, thistle; cf. Gothic (Moesogothic) deinō in comp. wigadeinō, ‘way-thistle.’
 

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/ˈθɪsl/
by American Heritage

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