botanize

American  

[bot-n-ahyz] / ˈbɒt nˌaɪz /

especially British, botanise

verb (used without object)

botanized, botanizing

1. to study plants or plant life.

2. to collect plants for scientific study.

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verb (used with object)

botanized, botanizing

1. to explore botanically; study the plant life of.

botanize British  

/ ˈbɒtəˌnaɪz /

verb

1. (intr) to collect or study plants

2. (tr) to explore and study the plants in (an area or region)

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• botanizer
  noun

Etymology

Origin of botanize

1760–70; < New Latin botanizāre < Greek botanízein to gather plants. See botanist, -ize

Example Sentences

She liked to botanize, collecting specimens of plants along the route.

From National Geographic • Jul. 2, 2017

He would forbid you newspapers and order you to botanize and prescribe tranquillizing reading; Trollope's novels, the Life of Gladstone, the works of Mr. A. C. Benson, memoirs and so on.

From Soul of a Bishop by Wells, H. G. (Herbert George)

We will not "peep and botanize" on sacred soil, nor submit our most refined delights to the impertinences of critical analysis.

From Collections and Recollections by Russell, George William Erskine

It was a famous place in which to botanize, and the girls were allowed to disperse and hunt about for specimens, and came back every now and then to show their finds to their teacher.

From The New Girl at St. Chad's A Story of School Life by Brazil, Angela

Lowell's attitude toward science is that of Wordsworth, when he speaks of the dry-souled scientist as one who is all eyes and no heart, "One that would peep and botanize Upon his mother's grave."

From The Vision of Sir Launfal And Other Poems by James Russell Lowell; Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Julian W. Abernethy, PH.D. by Lowell, James Russell