polyanthus

American  

[pol-ee-an-thuhs] / ˌpɒl iˈæn θəs /

noun

polyanthuses plural

1. a hybrid primrose, Primula polyantha.

2. Also called polyanthus narcissus.  a narcissus, Narcissus tazetta, having small white or yellow flowers.

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polyanthus British  

/ ˌpɒlɪˈænθəs /

noun

1. any of several hybrid garden primroses, esp Primula polyantha, which has brightly coloured flowers

2. a Eurasian amaryllidaceous plant, Narcissus tazetta, having clusters of small yellow or white fragrant flowers

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• polyanthuses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of polyanthus

1620–30; < New Latin < Greek polýanthos having many flowers. See poly-, -anthous

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

polyanthus polyanthuses

He professed to disbelieve in the time-honoured prescription, "Plant a primrose upside down, and it will come up a polyanthus," and refused to help me to make the experiment.

From Mary's Meadow And Other Tales of Fields and Flowers by Ewing, Juliana Horatia Gatty

Sometimes the leaves are as large as a full-grown polyanthus leaf, whilst other plants, which have flowered equally well, have not produced foliage larger than that of primroses, when having their earliest flowers.

From Hardy Perennials and Old Fashioned Flowers Describing the Most Desirable Plants, for Borders, Rockeries, and Shrubberies. by Wood, John

In particular, Thackeray’s bitter fun on the ineffably lackadaisical passage, “My L. has seen a polyanthus blow in December,” is pretty fully justified.

From The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman by Sterne, Laurence

Stocks, red-hot-pokers, larkspur, polyanthus, peonies and dahlias caught the eye which was lured back to the humbler beauties of mignonette, forget-me-not, love-in-idleness, and a generous profusion of roses.

From The Soul of Susan Yellam by Vachell, Horace Annesley

That fine flower of love, that polyanthus over which Sterne snivelled so many tears, could not last for a quarter of a century!

From Henry Esmond; The English Humourists; The Four Georges by Saintsbury, George

The crocuses were all asleep now, their little petals fast closed, and the daisies too, but the polyanthuses looked bravely with their beautiful eyes at the fast darkening sky.

From The Carroll Girls by Quiller-Couch, Mabel

Plant tulip and other flower roots, slip polyanthuses, and place them in rich shady borders.

From The Cook and Housekeeper's Complete and Universal Dictionary; Including a System of Modern Cookery, in all Its Various Branches, Adapted to the Use of Private Families by Eaton, Mary, fl. 1823-1849

There shuiting their phanthasies, they pluck polyanthuses That round in the gardens resplindently grow, Wid roses and jessimins, and other sweet specimins, Would charm bould Linnayus in sweet Pimlico.

From Ballads by Thackeray, William Makepeace

As an instance of this, he remembered declaring that he could "produce variously coloured polyanthuses and primroses by watering them with certain coloured fluids," though he knew all the time it was untrue.

From Alfred Russel Wallace: Letters and Reminiscences, Vol. 1 by Marchant, James

Primroses, violets, lilies of the valley, and polyanthuses enriched such shady spots, as, for want of sun, were not well calculated for the production of other flowers.

From A Description of Millenium Hall And the Country Adjacent Together with the Characters of the Inhabitants and Such Historical Anecdotes and Reflections As May Excite in the Reader Proper Sentiments of Humanity, and Lead the Mind to the Love of Virtue by Scott, Sarah