Also called dragon's mouth, swamp pink. an orchid, Arethusa bulbosa, of eastern North America, having a solitary pink flower with a blotched, fringed lip: now rare.
(initial capital letter) a nymph who was changed into a spring to save her when she was being pursued by the river god Alpheus.
1810–20; (< New Latin ) < Greek Aréthousa
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
To begin with, all these pinky-purple, these arethusa tints are nameless; perhaps orchid color is as good a name as any.
From Old-Time Gardens Newly Set Forth by Earle, Alice Morse
Now, after he has drained the next arethusa, his pollen-laden head must rub against the long sticky stigma before it touches the helmet-like anther lid and precipitates another volley of pollen.
From Wild Flowers An Aid to Knowledge of Our Wild Flowers and Their Insect Visitors by Blanchan, Neltje
Even the tender pink orchid blooms of arethusa lingered among the grasses, in shadowy, cool-rooted spots, though the arethusa begins to bloom there in late May.
From Old Plymouth Trails by Packard, Winthrop
When June comes,—when the clethra is heaped with its bee-beloved blossoms, and the grass is green and bright as never again in the year, then the arethusa is to be sought.
From The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 05, No. 27, January, 1860 by Various
In “that hoarse voice he had,” Arethusa says, Alpheus asked her, “Where are you going in such a hurry, Arethusa?”
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 2, 2018
I’ve been rereading Ovid lately—the clean and gorgeous Rolfe Humphries translation of the Metamorphoses, published in 1955—and, in Book V, the nymph Arethusa tells Ceres the story of how she was transformed into a spring.
From The New Yorker ● Nov. 2, 2018
Next came Arethusa al Tavolo, a well-received restaurant serving Mediterranean-style dishes.
From New York Times ● Jun. 20, 2018
It had been a farm named Arethusa, the story went, for an orchid that once grew there.
From New York Times ● Jun. 25, 2011
Worn out at last, Arethusa called to her goddess, and not in vain.
From "Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes" by Edith Hamilton
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
