hollyhock

[ hol-ee-hok, -hawk ]

noun
  1. any of several plants belonging to the genus Alcea (or Althaea), of the mallow family, native to Eurasia, especially A. rosea, a tall plant having a long cluster of showy, variously colored flowers.

Origin of hollyhock

1
1225–75; Middle English holihoc, equivalent to holiholy + hoc mallow, Old English hocc

Words Nearby hollyhock

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

How to use hollyhock in a sentence

  • So Buster darted away, calling out as he went that he would meet Jimmy at the hollyhock hedge on the next morning but one.

    The Tale of Buster Bumblebee | Arthur Scott Bailey
  • "Some like strong lovers that can master them," said hollyhock, lifting his head and standing very straight.

    Sandman's Goodnight Stories | Abbie Phillips Walker
  • We have found them also infesting the roots of the hollyhock (Alcea rosea).

    Insect Architecture | James Rennie
  • It would be as right and sensible to dwarf a hollyhock into a podgy mass a foot high, or a Pentstemon, or a Foxglove.

    Wood and Garden | Gertrude Jekyll
  • Make the tea-table of the hollyhock's round cake of unripe seeds which most children call a cheese.

British Dictionary definitions for hollyhock

hollyhock

/ (ˈhɒlɪˌhɒk) /


noun
  1. a tall widely cultivated malvaceous plant, Althaea rosea, with stout hairy stems and spikes of white, yellow, red, or purple flowers: Also called (US): rose mallow

Origin of hollyhock

1
C16: from holy + hock, from Old English hoc mallow

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