flower 
These (the Janizaries! are the flower of the Turkish In- 
fantery, by whom such wonderfull victories have brcti at 
chieve'l. Satuiys. Travailes, p. 38. 
The Kings Forces were the jlnin-r of those Counties 
wheuee they came. Mi/t"it, Hist. Eng.,vi. 
4. That state or part of anything which may 
be likened to the flowering state of a plant; 
especially, the early period of life or of adult 
age; youthful vigor; prime: as, the flower of 
youth or manhood ; the flower of beauty. 
If he be young and lusty, the devil will put in Ills heart, 
and say to him, What ! tliuii art in thy flutters, man : take 
thy pleasure. Lti,n,',\ Sermons and Remains, I. 481. 
He died upon a Scaffold in Thoulouze, in the flower of 
his Years. Howtll, Letters, I. vi. 19. 
A simple maiden in her flouvr 
Is worth a hundred coats of. arms. 
Tennyson, Lady Clara Vere de Vere. 
Cleonymus was an aged man, and Acrotatus, his grand- 
nephew, seems to have been his nearest male relation in 
the flower of life. Maine, Early Law and Custom, p. 104. 
5. A figure of speech; an ornament of style. 
They affect the Jlowert of rhetoric hefore they under- 
stand the parts of speech. Steele, Tatler, No. 244. 
Plain truth, dear Murray, needs no flower* of speech. 
Pope, luiit. of Horace, I. vi. 3. 
6. la printing, a type of decorative design used 
in borders, or in constructed typographic head- 
bands or ornaments, or with an initial letter. 
7. Eccles., an ornament of a chasuble, consist- 
ing in gold or other embroidery of branching 
or floreated patterns, extending over the upper 
part of the back, about the shoulders, and some- 
times also in front, so as to cover the chest. 
8f. The finest part of grain pulverized. See 
flour. 
There were enemies come into that Sea, for which reason 
he had dispatched these three .Ships with Flower, that 
they might not want. Dampier, Voyages, I. 99. 
9. pi. In chem., fine particles of a substance, 
especially when raised by fire in sublimation, 
and adhering to the heads of vessels in the form 
of a powder or mealy deposit : as, the flowery of 
sulphur. 10. pi. The menstrual flow. [Used 
in the authorized version of Lev. xv. 25, 33, but 
changed in the revised version to impurity. Now 
only vulgar.] Aggregate flower. See aggregate. 
Argentine flowers of antimony. See antinomy. Ar- 
tificial flower, an imitation of a natural flower, worn as 
an ornament in the hair, in bonnets, etc. Such flowersare 
made of feathers, silk, camhric, gauze, paper, wax, shell, 
etc. In Italy the cocoons of silkworms are used for this 
purpose, and sometimes vegetable parchment, or thin 
sheets of whalebone or of gutta-percha dissolved in benzol, 
are employed. Balaustlne flowers, barren flowers. 
See the adjectives. Christmas flower. See Christmas. 
Complete, compound, cyclic flowers. See the adjec- 
tives. Double flower, a flower whose organs of repro- 
duction are partly or wholly converted into petals, so that 
the rows of petals exceed the normal number. Equinoc- 
tial flowers. See <v/woofif. Evening flower. See 
ettniar/. Fertile or female flower, a flower having pis 
tils only. Flamed flowers. Seerfawe, r. t.- Flower of 
blood. See Uowl. Flower or flowers of tan, a fungus, 
Ftdigo, one of the JfyanmuMtM, Flowers of bismuth, 
madder, sulphur, etc. See Hmnulh, etc. Flowers of 
vinegar, a mold-like growth on the surface of a liquid in 
which acetous fermentation is taking place. It consists 
of the acetous ferment-organism Micrococcus (Mycoder- 
ma) aceti. Flowers of wine, a mold-like growth on the 
surface of fermenting wine, consisting of Saccharomyces 
Mycoderma. flowers of zinc. See zinc. Hermaph- 
rodite or perfect flower, a flower having both stamens 
and pistils. See inflorescence. Male or sterile flower, 
a flower having stamens only. Nocturnal flowers. See 
nocturnal. 
flower (flou'er), v. [< ME. flouren (= MHO. flo- 
riereii, G. floriren = Dan. florere = Sw. florera), 
bloom, flourish, < OF. flurir, florir, F. fleiirir 
= Pr. florir = It. florire, < L. florere, bloom, 
flourish: see flower, ., and flourish.'] I. ill- 
traits. 1. To blossom; bloom; produce flow- 
ers; come into bloom or a blooming condition, 
literally or figuratively. 
The South part thereof (Corfu] is mountainous, and de- 
fective in waters : where they sow little corn, in that sub- 
ject to be blasted by the Southern winds, at such times as 
iiflowreth. Sandys, Travailes, p. 3. 
Whilome thy fresh spring flowrd, and after hasted 
Thy sommer prowde, with Daffadillies dight. 
Spenser, Shep. Cal., January. 
Nor could thy enemies, though its roots they wet 
With thy best blood, destroy thy glorious tree, 
That on its stem of greatness flowers late. 
R. U. StoMard, Guests of the State. 
Mercy, that herb-of -grace. 
. Floirers now but seldom. 
Tennyson, Queen Mary, iii. 6. 
2f. To flourish ; be in a flourishing or vigor- 
ous condition. 
Salamon in his parablys say th that a good spyryte mak- 
yth a flouryng aege, that is a fayre aege dc a longe. 
Juliana Berners, Treatyse of Fysshynge wythe an Angle, 
[fol. 1. 
Myn honeste 
Thutfluureth yet. Chaucer, Troilus, iv. 1577. 
2284 
3. To froth ; ferment gently ; mantle, as new 
beer. 
That beer did flmn-r a little. Bacon, Nat. Hist., $ 385. 
4t. To come as froth or cream from the surface. 
If you can accept of these few observations, which have 
//i</'vm/ off, and are, as it were, the burnishing of many 
stthlious and contemplative years, I here give you them 
to dispose of. Milinu, Education. 
Flowering almond. See (xi ( / .five. Flowering 
fern, rush, etc. see the nouns. Flowering plants. 
(n) I'hciioj-a is plants, or plants which produce flow- 
ers, as opposed to cryptogamous or flowerless plants. (6) 
Plants cultivated especially for their flowers. 
II. trans. To cover or embellish with flowers, 
or figures or imitations of flowers, as ribbons, 
lace, gloves, glass, etc. 
When the frost flowers the whiten'd window panes. 
M. Arnold, Sohrab and Rustum. 
The draw-boy and slides to the stocking frame for bro- 
cading and flowerimj gloves, aprons, Ac. 
A. Barlmc, Weaving, p. 36. 
flowerage (flou'er-aj), n. [< floirer + -age. Cf. 
floriage, foliage, leafage.] A flowering; an as- 
semblage of flowers ; flowers taken together in 
mass, as in decorative art. 
St. Edmund's shrine glitters now with diamond flower- 
aget, with a plating of wrought gold. 
Carlylr, Past and Present, ii. 3. 
They flitted off, 
Busying themselves about the flowerage, 
That stood from out a stiff brocade. 
Tennyson, Aylmer's Field. 
flower-amour t, . Same as floramour. 
flower-animals (flou'er-an*i-malz), . pi. A 
book-name of the Anthozoa. 
flower-bell (flou'er-bel), . A bell-shaped blos- 
som. [Rare.] 
Cluster'd flower-bells and ambrosial orbs 
Of rich fruit-bunches. Tennyson, Isabel. 
flower-bird (flou'er-berd), w. 1. Any bird of 
the genus Anthornis, family Meliphagida: 2. 
Any bird of the family ('osrebidce. 
flower-bug (flou'er-bug), w. The popular name 
of sundry small true bugs or hemipterous in- 
sects which frequent 
the blossoms of flower- 
ing plants, as the spe- 
cies of Anthocoris. The 
insidious flower-bug, Antho- 
coris (Triphleps) in*idwsu# 
(Say), is often mistaken for 
the common chinch-bug, up- 
on which it preys ; it also 
feeds upon variousgall-mak- 
ing plant-lice. 
flower-clock (flou'er- 
klok), . A collection 
of flowers so arranged 
that the time of day 
is indicated by those 
which open or shut at 
certain hours. 
flower-de-lis (flou'er-de-le'), n. See fleur-de-lis. 
flower-de-luce (flou'er-de-lus'), n. [< F.fleitr 
de Us, lit. flower of the lily : see fleur-de-lis, 
flower, and lily.] 1. A name for species of 
Iris the French fleur-de-lis. 
O Aowerde-luce, bloom on, and let the river 
Linger to kiss thy feet ! 
, Flower-de-luce. 
Insidious Flower-b 
:r-bug {Antho- 
corir insittusus}. (Line shows 
natural size.) 
2. In her., same as fleur-de-lis. 
There are eight other cannon towards the south : I saw 
among them two very fine ones, one is twenty-five feet 
long, and adorned \vitli flotcer de Ittceg, which, they say, 
was a decoration antiently used by the emperors of the 
east before the French took those anus. 
Pococke, Description of the East, II. ii. 103. 
flowered (flou'erd), p. a. 1. Covered with 
flowers; flowery; blooming. 
Stinging bees In hottest summer's day. 
Led by their master to the flower'd fields. 
'Shalt., Tit. And., v. 1. 
2. Embellished with figures of flowers. 
Cato's long wig, flower d gown, and lacquer'd chair. 
Pope, Imit. of Horace, II. i. 337. 
His morning costume was an ample dressing gown of 
gorgeonsly-yiowerfd silk, and his morning was very apt to 
last all day. G. W. Curtis, Prue and I, p. 107. 
flowerer (flou'er-er), n. A plant which flow- 
ers; a plant considered with reference to its 
flowers, or to its manner or time of flowering. 
Many hybrids are profuse and persistent flomrers, while 
other and more sterile hybrids produce few flowers. 
Darwin, Origin of Species, p. 255. 
floweret (flou'er-t), . [Also written jflrarat; 
< ME. flourette, < OF. florete, flurette, F. fleu- 
rette, f., = Pr. Sp.floreta, f., = It. floretto, m., 
< ML. florettus, a flower : see flower, and cf . flo- 
ret and/erre( 2 , doublets of floweret.] A small 
flower ; a floret. 
flowery 
For not iclad in silk was he, 
But al in floures and_rfo", 
Ipaintcd allc \\ith amorettes. 
H'Hti. of the Rose, 1. 893. 
With tan. ly girlonds, or fresh flou-retx (light 
About her necke, or rings of rushes plight. 
Spenser, V. O.., II. vi. 7. 
And that same dew, which sometime on the buds 
Was uont to swell like round anil orient pearls. 
Mood now within the pretty flow'rels' eyes. 
Shak., M. N. D., iv. 1. 
flower-fence (ttou'er-fens), n. A West Indian 
name for the Ctesaljiinia /m/i-ln rrinm, a large- 
flowered leguminous shrub sometimes used for 
hedges. Also called flower-pride and Barbailnx- 
priae. 
flower-fly (flou'er-fli), n. Any dipterous insect 
of the family Bombyliidtr; also, any other fly 
which frequents flowers. 
flowerful (flou'er-1'ul), a. [< floicrr + -ful.] 
Abounding with flowers. Craig. [Rare.] 
flower-gentle (rlou'er-jen"tl), n. [That is, 
gentle or noble flower: a translation of F. "la 
noble fleur, flower-gentle, velvet-flower, flower- 
amour, flower-velure " (Cotgrave) : see floioer 
and gentle, and ct. floramour .] A popular name 
for several cultivated species of Amannitun. 
and more particularly for A. tricolor, the foli- 
age of which is brilliantly colored in yellow, 
green, and red; floramour. 
flower-head (flou'er-hed), n. In lot., a form 
of inflorescence consisting of a dense cluster 
of florets sessile upon the shortened summit of 
the axis, as in the Composites. 
floweriness (flou'er-i-nes), w. 1. The state of 
being flowery, or of abounding with flowers. 
2. Floridness, as of speech; profusion of rhe- 
torical figures. 
flowering (flou'er-ing), . [Verbal n. of flower, 
r.] 1. The act or state denoted by the verb 
flower, in any of its senses : as, the flowering of 
the bean. 
But then note that an extreme clarification doth spread 
the spirits so smooth as they become dull, and the drink 
dead, which ought to have a little flowriny. 
Bacon, Nat. Hist., 312. 
2. The shoals or strata of fish-feed often seen 
in the water about spawning-time. Hamersly. 
flower-leaf (flou'er-lef), . The leaf of a flow- 
er; a petal. 
flowerless (flou'er-les), a. [< ME. flourelesse ; 
< flower + -less.] Having no flowers ; specifi- 
cally, in bot., applied to cryptogamous plants, 
as opposed to pheuogainous or flowering plants. 
An herbe he broughte flourelesse, all greene. 
The Isle of Ladies (ed. Furnivall). 
The kingdom of plants |is divided into] Flowering and 
Flowerlesf. W. L. Davidson, Mind, XII. 251. 
flowerlessness (flou'r-les-nes), n. The state 
or quality of being without flowers. 
flower-of-an-hour (flou'er-ov-an-our' ), . The 
bladder-ketmia, Hibiscus Trionum, the flower of 
which is open only in mid-day. 
flower-pecker (flou' er-pek"er), n . 1 . An Amer- 
ican honey-creeper or guitguit of the family 
Ccerebidce. 2. Some bird of the family Dicceid(B. 
Little flocks of the small green flower-lacker (Zosterops) 
were the only birds seen or heard at the summit. 
H. O. Forbes, Eastern Archipelago, p. 212. 
flower-piece (flou'er-pes), . A specially de- 
signed arrangement or representation of flow- 
ers; a picture wholly or mainly of flowers, or 
a particular shape worked in flowers. 
flower-pot (flou'er-pot), n. A pot in which 
flowering plants or shrubs may be grown, gen- 
erally made of burned clay, unglazed, and ta- 
pering a little toward the bottom, which is per- 
forated with one hole or more for drainage. 
flower-pride (flou'er-prid), . Same us flower- 
fence. 
flower-Stalk (flou'er-stak), n. In bot., a pe- 
duncle or pedicel ; the usually leafless part of 
a stem or branch which bears a flower-cluster 
or a single flower. 
flower-water (flou'er-wa/ter), w. Distilled wa- 
ter containing the essential oils of flowers, as 
rose-water. 
Essences and flower-waters are produced by ordinary 
distillation, in which the flowers are boiled with water in 
large alembics. U. S. Cons. Rep., No. Ixviii. (1886), p. 581. 
flower-work (flou'er-werk), n. Imitation of 
flowers, or ornamentation in which the repre- 
sentation of flowers is the principal feature. 
flowery (flou'er-i), a. [(flower + -yl.] 1. Full 
of flowers; consisting of or abounding with 
blossoms : as, a flowery field. 
Come, sit thee down ui>on this flowery bed. 
Shak., M. N. D., iv. 1. 
