orpine

or or·pin

[ awr-pin ]

noun
  1. a plant, Sedum telephium, of the stonecrop family, having purplish flowers.

Origin of orpine

1
1350–1400; Middle English <Middle French, back formation from orpimentorpiment

Words Nearby orpine

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

How to use orpine in a sentence

  • Our two species of native orpine, Sedum ternatum and S. telephioides, are never troublesome as weeds.

    A Year in the Fields | John Burroughs
  • orpine for Quinsie in the throat, for which disease it is inferior to none.

  • Like the orpine, it was a veritable "live-long," or as the politicians say, "die-hard."

  • They set orpine in clay upon pieces of slate in their houses, under the name of a Midsummer man.

    Domestic folk-lore | T. F. Thiselton-Dyer
  • The orpine was a flower linked with tradition and mystery in England, there were scores of fanciful notions connected with it.

    Old-Time Gardens | Alice Morse Earle

British Dictionary definitions for orpine

orpine

orpin (ˈɔːpɪn)

/ (ˈɔːpaɪn) /


noun
  1. a succulent perennial N temperate crassulaceous plant, Sedum telephium, with toothed leaves and heads of small purplish-white flowers: Also called: (Brit) livelong, (US) live-forever

Origin of orpine

1
C14: from Old French, apparently from orpiment (perhaps referring to the yellow flowers of a related species)

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