bract

[ brakt ]
See synonyms for bract on Thesaurus.com
nounBotany.
  1. a specialized leaf or leaflike part, usually situated at the base of a flower or inflorescence.

Origin of bract

1
1760–70; earlier bractea<Latin: a thin plate of metal

Other words from bract

  • brac·te·al [brak-tee-uhl], /ˈbræk ti əl/, adjective
  • bracted, adjective
  • bractless, adjective

Words Nearby bract

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use bract in a sentence

  • The male flowers grow in catkins, each arising from a scaly bract, and have a green perianth.

    The Sea Shore | William S. Furneaux
  • This bract, when dead, is bent near the middle and more or less twisted, with the edges curving toward the cluster of nuts.

    Seed Dispersal | William J. Beal
  • This bract has attracted a good deal of attention, and for a long time everybody wondered what could be its use.

    Seed Dispersal | William J. Beal
  • The little fruit is hung from a broad, flying bract, and as it very slowly sinks to the ground it solemnly turns round and round.

    The Romance of Plant Life | G. F. Scott Elliot
  • That is because the pressure of the air acts on the flat bract just as it does on an aeroplane, and forces it to revolve.

    The Romance of Plant Life | G. F. Scott Elliot

British Dictionary definitions for bract

bract

/ (brækt) /


noun
  1. a specialized leaf, usually smaller than the foliage leaves, with a single flower or inflorescence growing in its axil

Origin of bract

1
C18: from New Latin bractea, Latin: thin metal plate, gold leaf, variant of brattea, of obscure origin

Derived forms of bract

  • bracteal, adjective
  • bractless, adjective

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for bract

bract

[ brăkt ]


  1. A modified leaf growing just below a flower or flower stalk. Bracts are generally small and inconspicuous, but some are showy and petallike, as the brightly colored bracts of bougainvillaea or the white or pink bracts of flowering dogwoods.

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