Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Black-lead; graphite. See
graphite . - noun [capitalized] [NL. (Tournefort, 1700).] A genus of plants, the leadworts, of the order Plumbagineæ and tribe Plumbageæ. characterized by a glandular calyx with five short erect teeth, a salver-shaped corolla with slender tube, free stamens, and five styles united into one nearly to the top.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Min.) Same as
graphite . - noun (Bot.) A genus of herbaceous plants with pretty salver-shaped corollas, usually blue or violet; leadwort.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun mineralogy
graphite - noun botany
leadwort
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun used as a lubricant and as a moderator in nuclear reactors
- noun any plumbaginaceous plant of the genus Plumbago
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Graphite, locally known as plumbago, the only commercial mineral of the country, might be seen in the Palace of Mines and Metallurgy.
Final Report of the Louisiana Purchase Exposition Commission
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Here are the magnolia, the laurel, the Japanese medlar, the oleander, the pepper, the bay, the date-palm, a tree called the plumbago, another from the Cape of Good
The Complete Project Gutenberg Writings of Charles Dudley Warner
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Carbon, combined with a small quantity of iron, forms a compound called plumbago, or black-lead, of which pencils are made.
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The pureness of whites in some celebrated old pictures is rather to be attributed to a proper method of using, careful preservation of the work, and in many instances to the introduction of ultramarine or a permanent cold colour into the white -- such as plumbago -- helped also by judicious contrast.
Field's Chromatography or Treatise on Colours and Pigments as Used by Artists
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The greatest standby to the amateur gardener should undoubtedly be the blue-flowered shrub known as "plumbago".
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I've got a feeling the BLUE plant in the terracotta pot is a plumbago (is it, Kristin?) ... having a friendly conversation with the RED busy lizzies in the old bucket.
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So, yes, in blue, I'm sure now it is a plumbago, but the red flowers "dans le seau" (in the bucket) are not busy lizzies - and not geraniums either.
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A few that come to mind — Mertensia virginica Virginia bluebells, Ceratostigma plumbaginoides Perennial plumbago, and this little beauty.
Now showing: Veronica ped. ‘Georgia Blue’ « Sugar Creek Gardens’ Blog
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A few that come to mind — Mertensia virginica Virginia bluebells, Ceratostigma plumbaginoides Perennial plumbago, and this little [...]
Virginia bluebells: a kaleidoscope of spring color « Sugar Creek Gardens’ Blog
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So, yes, in blue, I'm sure now it is a plumbago, but the red flowers "dans le seau" in the bucket are not busy lizzies - and not geraniums either.
sionnach commented on the word plumbago
Back pain induced by sitting unnaturally straight for long periods of time.
November 16, 2007