mock orange


noun
  1. Also called syringa. any of various shrubs belonging to the genus Philadelphus, of the saxifrage family, especially P. coronarius, a widely cultivated species having fragrant white flowers.

  2. any of various other shrubs or trees having flowers or fruit resembling those of the orange, as the laurel cherry.

Origin of mock orange

1
First recorded in 1725–35

Words Nearby mock orange

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

How to use mock orange in a sentence

  • They held their breath; and I held mine, pressing my body into the mock-orange bush until the twigs cracked.

    The Adventures of Harry Revel | Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
  • Being town-bred and unused to owls, I took it for a human cry in the darkness and shrank closer against my mock-orange bush.

    The Adventures of Harry Revel | Sir Arthur Thomas Quiller-Couch
  • The hardy ornamental shrubs, honeysuckle, lilac, mock-orange and spirea Van Houttii can be grown here.

  • Lilacs, snowballs and mock orange should be let alone during the winter, being neither trimmed nor covered with straw and manure.

  • Turning, she saw a middle-aged, white-haired lady, standing by a mock orange bush slightly to the left of the gate.

    The Secret of the Sundial | Mildred A. Wirt, AKA Ann Wirt

British Dictionary definitions for mock orange

mock orange

noun
  1. Also called: syringa any shrub of the genus Philadelphus, esp P. coronarius, with white fragrant flowers that resemble those of the orange: family Philadelphaceae

  2. any other shrub or tree that resembles the orange tree

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