Adjacent Words

Scabious definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

SCA'BIOUS, a. [L. scabisus, from scabies, scab.]
Consisting of scabs; rough itch; leprous; as scabious eruptions.
SCA'BIOUS, n. A plant of the genus Scabiosa.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: any of various plants of the genus Scabiosa [syn: scabious, scabiosa]

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English scabiose, from Anglo-French, from Medieval Latin scabiosa, from Latin, feminine of scabiosus, adjective Date: 14th century any of a genus (Scabiosa) of Old World herbs of the teasel family with terminal flower heads subtended by a leafy involucre II. adjective Etymology: Latin scabiosus, from scabies Date: 1603 1. scabby 2. of, relating to, or resembling scabies <scabious eruptions>

Britannica Concise

Any of about 100 species of annual and perennial herbaceous plants that make up the genus Scabiosa (family Dipsaceae), native to temperate Eurasia, the Mediterranean, and mountains of E Africa. Some are important garden plants, incl. the S European annual pincushion flower (S. atropurpurea), also called sweet scabious, mourning bride, or garden scabious. All species have leaf rosettes at the base of the plant, and leafy stems. Flower heads have an outer ring of female flowers and a circle of leaflike bracts below. Devil's bit scabious belongs to the genus Succisa (see bluebonnet).

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & adj. --n. any plant of the genus Scabiosa, Knautia, etc., with pink, white, or esp. blue pincushion-shaped flowers. --adj. affected with mange; scabby. Etymology: ME f. med.L scabiosa (herba) formerly regarded as a cure for skin disease: see SCABIES

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Scabious Sca"bi*ous, a. [L. scabiosus, from scabies the scab: cf. F. scabieux.] Consisting of scabs; rough; itchy; leprous; as, scabious eruptions. --Arbuthnot.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Scabious Sca"bi*ous, n. [Cf. F. scabieuse. See Scabious, a.] (Bot.) Any plant of the genus Scabiosa, several of the species of which are common in Europe. They resemble the Composit[ae], and have similar heads of flowers, but the anthers are not connected. Sweet scabious. (a) Mourning bride. (b) A daisylike plant (Erigeron annuus) having a stout branching stem.

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

a. Rough, itchy, scabby, scabbed, leprous.