pimpernel

[ pim-per-nel, -nl ]

noun
  1. a plant belonging to the genus Anagallis, of the primrose family, especially A. arvensis(scarlet pimpernel ), having scarlet or white flowers that close at the approach of bad weather.

Origin of pimpernel

1
1400–50; late Middle English pympernele<Middle French pimprenelle, nasalized variant of Old French piprenelle<Late Latin *piperīnella, equivalent to piperpepper + -īn--ine1 + -ella diminutive suffix; replacing Old English pipeneale<Late Latin pipīnella, syncopated variant of *piperīnella

Words Nearby pimpernel

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

How to use pimpernel in a sentence

  • A faintly embarrassing situation this, even for an ancestor of the elusive pimpernel.

  • His failure in bringing that interfering Scarlet pimpernel to justice and the guillotine had completed Chauvelin's downfall.

    The Elusive Pimpernel | Baroness Emmuska Orczy
  • She was a prisoner in the hands of those who long ago had sworn to bring The Scarlet pimpernel to death!

    The Elusive Pimpernel | Baroness Emmuska Orczy
  • It would require more than the ingenuity of the Scarlet pimpernel himself to untie this Gordian knot.

    The Elusive Pimpernel | Baroness Emmuska Orczy
  • As for the Scarlet pimpernel, Chauvelin could not very well conceive what he would do under these present circumstances.

    The Elusive Pimpernel | Baroness Emmuska Orczy

British Dictionary definitions for pimpernel

pimpernel

/ (ˈpɪmpəˌnɛl, -nəl) /


noun
  1. any of several plants of the primulaceous genus Anagallis, such as the scarlet pimpernel, typically having small star-shaped flowers

  2. any of several similar and related plants, such as Lysimachia nemorum (yellow pimpernel)

Origin of pimpernel

1
C15: from Old French pimpernelle, ultimately from Latin piper pepper; compare Old English pipeneale

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