botanize
Americanverb (used without object)
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to study plants or plant life.
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to collect plants for scientific study.
verb (used with object)
verb
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(intr) to collect or study plants
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(tr) to explore and study the plants in (an area or region)
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of botanize
1760–70; < New Latin botanizāre < Greek botanízein to gather plants. See botanist, -ize
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
She liked to botanize, collecting specimens of plants along the route.
From National Geographic ● Jul. 2, 2017
So did he botanize universally upon the earth after every spear and sprig of knowledge.
From Titan: A Romance Vol. II (of 2) by Jean Paul
He is the true philosopher who can Peep and botanize Upon his mother's grave if the flowers required by science happen to grow there.
From Homes of American Statesmen With Anecdotical, Personal, and Descriptive Sketches by Various
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
We would bury both theological rancor and atheistical pretension in the same barrow, and agree never to "peep and botanize" over their common grave.
From Life: Its True Genesis by Wright, R. W.
She dressed the house with them, getting help from the garden when necessary; botanized a good deal; and began to grow as knowing in plants almost as Mrs. Caxton herself.
From The Old Helmet, Volume II by Warner, Susan
We recognized with pleasure the spots where we had botanized when going up the Orinoco.
From Personal Narrative of Travels to the Equinoctial Regions of America, During the Year 1799-1804 — Volume 2 by Humboldt, Alexander von
They had talked, and walked, and botanized together in the wood, in spite of Miss Rylance; and Urania felt somehow that the day had been a failure.
From The Golden Calf by Braddon, M. E. (Mary Elizabeth)
I have never fished nor botanized here, but I have been a-birding many times.
From Roof and Meadow by Sharp, Dallas Lore
On we came, to the top of the Great Schiedich, where H. and W. botanized, while I slept.
From Sunny Memories of Foreign Lands, Volume 2 by Stowe, Harriet Beecher
Gardeners will savor stories of 19th century botanizing and appreciate Hosack’s quest to save a garden, the most ephemeral of treasures, for posterity.
From Seattle Times ● Aug. 16, 2018
Ray encouraged Willughby’s interests in mathematics and took him botanizing.
From Nature ● May 1, 2018
Young and Petersen shot some brent geese; Walker saw two deer, but he was botanizing, and had no gun; others were seen by some of the men, and followed, but without success.
From In the Arctic Seas A Narrative of the Discovery of the Fate of Sir John Franklin and his Companions by McClintock, Francis Leopold
Early the next morning Miss Vanhorn, accompanied by her niece, drove off on an all-day botanizing expedition.
From Anne by Woolson, Constance Fenimore
It was by no means the first time his passion for botanizing had been called a craze.
From Harper's Young People, September 28, 1880 An Illustrated Weekly by Various
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.
