definitions

calceolaria

[ kal-see-uh-lair-ee-uh ]
/ ˌkæl si əˈlɛər i ə /
|

noun

any plant of the genus Calceolaria, of the figwort family, various species of which are cultivated for their slipperlike flowers.

Nearby words

calcarine, calcarine sulcus, calcariuria, calced, calceiform, calceolaria, calceolate, calces, calchas, calci-, calcic

Origin of calceolaria

1840–50; < New Latin, equivalent to Latin calceol(us) small shoe (calce(us) shoe + -olus -ole1) + -āria -aria
Also called slipper flower.
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for calceolaria

  • Suppression of the upper lip in such flowers as Calceolaria has been termed by Morren "apilary."

    Vegetable Teratology|Maxwell T. Masters

  • Every child in our town used to have a Calceolaria in her own small garden plot, but I never wanted one.

    Old-Time Gardens|Alice Morse Earle

British Dictionary definitions for calceolaria

calceolaria

/ (ˌkælsɪəˈlɛərɪə) /

noun

any tropical American scrophulariaceous plant of the genus Calceolaria: cultivated for its speckled slipper-shaped flowersAlso called: slipperwort

Word Origin for calceolaria

C18: from Latin calceolus small shoe, from calceus
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