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belladonna lily

 - 4 dictionary results

am⋅a⋅ryl⋅lis

[am-uh-ril-is]
–noun
1. any of several bulbous plants of the genus Hippeastrum, esp. H. puniceum, which has large red or pink flowers and is popular as a houseplant. Compare amaryllis family.
2. Also called belladonna lily, naked lady. a related plant, Amaryllis belladonna, having clusters of usually rose-colored flowers.
3. any of several other similar or related plants.
4. (initial capital letter) a shepherdess or country girl, esp. in classical and later pastoral poetry.

Origin:
1785–95; < L: name of a shepherdess in Vergil's Eclogues
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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belladonna lily  
n.  A bulbous, perennial southern African herb (Amaryllis belladonna) having showy umbels of large trumpet-shaped flowers that appear in the fall after the spring leaves die back. Also called amaryllis.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Word Origin & History

amaryllis 
autumn-flowering bulbs, 1794, adopted by Linnaeus from L., from Gk. Amaryllis, typical name of a country girl or shepherdess (in Theocritus, Virgil, Ovid, etc.).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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