cinquefoil
any of several plants belonging to the genus Potentilla, of the rose family, having yellow, red, or white five-petaled flowers, as P. reptans(creeping cinquefoil ), of the Old World, or P. argentea(silvery cinquefoil ), of North America.
Also called quinquefoil, quintefoil. Architecture. a panellike ornament consisting of five lobes, divided by cusps, radiating from a common center.
Heraldry. a charge in the form of a five-leaved clover.
Origin of cinquefoil
1Words Nearby cinquefoil
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024
How to use cinquefoil in a sentence
In June, he writes, "The wind dies, bees hover outside the open tower windows, the cinquefoil blooms butter yellow in the meadow."
On the south side the westernmost Perpendicular bay, up to the triforium, is solid and covered with cinquefoil panelling.
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Ripon | Cecil Walter Charles HallettThe panels are pointed and divided each into two cinquefoil divisions.
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Ripon | Cecil Walter Charles HallettOver each seat is an ogee canopy, cinquefoil, crocketed, and surmounted by a huge finial.
Bell's Cathedrals: The Cathedral Church of Ripon | Cecil Walter Charles HallettOpposite to it is an enclosed Early English window, with cinquefoil heads and shafts in the jambs.
A Yacht Voyage Round England | W.H.G. Kingston
The Creeping cinquefoil has a slender stem that creeps on the ground and forms new roots at the nodes.
Field and Woodland Plants | William S. Furneaux
British Dictionary definitions for cinquefoil
/ (ˈsɪŋkˌfɔɪl) /
any plant of the N temperate rosaceous genus Potentilla, typically having five-lobed compound leaves
an ornamental carving in the form of five arcs arranged in a circle and separated by cusps
heraldry a charge representing a five-petalled flower
Origin of cinquefoil
1Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
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