bird's-foot trefoil

American  

[burdz-foot] / ˈbɜrdzˌfʊt /

noun

1. a plant, Lotus corniculatus, of the legume family, the pods of which spread like a crow's foot, grown for forage.

2. any similar plant of the same genus.

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bird's-foot trefoil British  

noun

1. Also called: bacon-and-eggs.  any of various creeping leguminous Eurasian plants of the genus Lotus , esp L. corniculatus , with red-tipped yellow flowers and seed pods resembling the claws of a bird

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Etymology

Origin of bird's-foot trefoil

First recorded in 1825–35

Example Sentences

Many curious names have resulted from the prefix pig, as in Sussex, where the bird's-foot trefoil is known as pig's-pettitoes; and in Devonshire the fruit of the dog-rose is pig's-noses.

From The Folk-lore of Plants by Dyer, T. F. Thiselton (Thomas Firminger Thiselton)

Through this belt the actual road meanders; the sward on each side is now bathed in wild flowers, conspicuous among which are patches of the yellow bird’s-foot trefoil.

From The Cruise of the Land-Yacht "Wanderer" Thirteen Hundred Miles in my Caravan by Stables, Gordon

Numerous names have been suggested by their fancied resemblance to the feet, hoofs, and tails of animals and birds; as, for instance, colt's-foot, crow-foot, bird's-foot trefoil, horse-shoe vetch, bull-foot, and the vervain, nicknamed frog's-foot.

From The Folk-lore of Plants by Dyer, T. F. Thiselton (Thomas Firminger Thiselton)

They lay down in the dry grass, upon the gold bits of bird's-foot trefoil of the cliff's edge, and looked out to sea.

From The Trespasser by Lawrence, D. H. (David Herbert)

Among the first, my notes mention the following: Convolvulus cantabrica, or flax-leaved bindweed; Lotus symmetricus, or bird's-foot trefoil; Teucrium polium, or poly; and the flowery heads of the Phragmites communis, or common reed.

From Bramble-Bees and Others by Teixeira de Mattos, Alexander