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edelweiss

 - 3 dictionary results

e⋅del⋅weiss

[eyd-l-vahys, -wahys]
–noun
1. a small composite plant, Leontopodium alpinum, having white woolly leaves and flowers, growing in the high altitudes of the Alps.
2. a liqueur made in Italy, flavored with the extracts of alpine flowers.

Origin:
1860–65; < G, equiv. to edel noble + weiss white
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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e·del·weiss   (ā'dəl-vīs', -wīs')   
n.  An alpine plant (Leontopodium alpinum), native to Europe and having leaves covered with whitish down and small flower heads surrounded by conspicuous whitish bracts.

[German : edel, noble (from Middle High German edele, from Old High German edili) + weiss, white (from Middle High German wīz, from Old High German wīz, hwīz; see kweit- in Indo-European roots).]
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

edelweiss 
1862, from Ger., lit. "noble white," from O.H.G. edili "noble" (from P.Gmc. *ath(a)l-ja) + Ger. weiss "white."
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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