Adjacent Words

Heliotrope definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

HE'LIOTROPE, n. [Gr. the sun, and to turn.]
1. Among the ancients, an instrument or machine for showing when the sun arrived at the tropics and the equinoctial line.
2. A genus or plants, the turnsole.
3. A mineral, a subspecies of rhomboidal quartz, of a deep green color, peculiarly pleasant to the eye. It is usually variegated with blood red or yellowish dots, and is more or less translucent. Before the blowpipe, it loses its color. It is generally supposed to be chalcedony, colored by green earth or chlorite.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: green chalcedony with red spots that resemble blood [syn: bloodstone, heliotrope]

Merriam Webster's

noun Etymology: Latin heliotropium, from Greek h?liotropion, from h?lio- ¹heli- + tropos turn; from its flowers' turning toward the sun — more at trope Date: 1605 1. any of a genus (Heliotropium) of herbs or shrubs of the borage family — compare garden heliotrope 2. bloodstone 3. a variable color averaging a moderate to reddish purple

Britannica Concise

Any of about 250 species of tropical or temperate, mostly herbaceous, plants that make up the genus Heliotropium, in the borage family, found throughout the world. Included are many weedy species. The best known is garden heliotrope (H. arborescens), a shrubby perennial that bears fragrant, purple to white, flat-clustered, five-lobed flowers in coiled sprays, similar to forget-me-nots.

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. 1 a any plant of the genus Heliotropium, with fragrant purple flowers. b the scent of these. 2 a light purple colour. 3 bloodstone. Etymology: L heliotropium f. Gk heliotropion plant turning its flowers to the sun, f. helios sun + -tropos f. trepo turn

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Bloodstone Blood"stone`, n. (Min.) (a) A green siliceous stone sprinkled with red jasper, as if with blood; hence the name; -- called also heliotrope. (b) Hematite, an ore of iron yielding a blood red powder or ``streak.''

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Heliotrope He"li*o*trope, n. [F. h['e]liotrope, L. heliotropium, Gr. ?; ? the sun + ? to turn, ? turn. See Heliacal, Trope.] 1. (Anc. Astron.) An instrument or machine for showing when the sun arrived at the tropics and equinoctial line. 2. (Bot.) A plant of the genus Heliotropium; -- called also turnsole and girasole. H. Peruvianum is the commonly cultivated species with fragrant flowers. 3. (Geodesy & Signal Service) An instrument for making signals to an observer at a distance, by means of the sun's rays thrown from a mirror. 4. (Min.) See Bloodstone (a) . Heliotrope purple, a grayish purple color.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. (Bot.) Turnsole. 2. (Min.) Bloodstone.