crocus
Americannoun
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crocuses,
plural
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croci
plural
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any of the small, bulbous plants of the genus Crocus, of the iris family, cultivated for their showy, solitary flowers, which are among the first to bloom in the spring.
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the flower or bulb of the crocus.
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a deep yellow; orangish yellow; saffron.
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Also called crocus martis. a polishing powder consisting of iron oxide.
noun
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any plant of the iridaceous genus Crocus, widely cultivated in gardens, having white, yellow, or purple flowers See also autumn crocus
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another name for jeweller's rouge
adjective
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of crocus
1350–1400; Middle English < Latin < Greek krókos saffron, crocus < Semitic; compare Arabic kurkum saffron
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:
With their annual income at their fingertips, a family of saffron farmers pluck delicate crimson stigmas from crocus flowers grown high in India’s Kashmir Valley.
From Science Magazine ● Nov. 26, 2024
In the meantime, residents were clinging to signs that the cold would eventually retreat: a stray crocus in the yard.
From New York Times ● Mar. 23, 2024
Back in Pampore, Dr Allie has worked on a system which involves growing the crocus inside for part of the year.
From BBC ● Nov. 30, 2023
Each November in Sardinia, purple crocus blossoms blanket the rolling fields.
From Washington Times ● Apr. 6, 2023
The blooming of the crocus was an impersonal phenomenon.
From "Middlesex: A Novel" by Jeffrey Eugenides
Count Giovanni Gozzadini has called the attention of archæologists to this subject in a memoir "Sulle croci monumentali che erano nelle vie di Bologna del secolo XIII."
From Pagan and Christian Rome by Rodolfo Amedeo Lanciani
The flowers appear before the leaves, and may, at the first glance, be taken for lilac-coloured croci.
From Hardy Perennials and Old Fashioned Flowers Describing the Most Desirable Plants, for Borders, Rockeries, and Shrubberies. by John Wood
Notwithstanding their dead appearance in winter, a capital suggestion occurred to me by an accidental mixture of croci with the Phlox.
From Hardy Perennials and Old Fashioned Flowers Describing the Most Desirable Plants, for Borders, Rockeries, and Shrubberies. by John Wood
With daffodils, crocuses and even cherry blossom flourishing, it has started to look a lot like spring.
From BBC ● Mar. 1, 2026
For others, it’s when they first realize they’ve finished dinner and it’s still light out, or when the first crocuses poke up through the snow.
From New York Times ● Mar. 16, 2024
Last week, the crocuses I saw in bare sunny patches were clobbered by several inches of snow, but in the stands of browned husks, no premature blossoms met such a fate.
From Washington Post ● Apr. 14, 2023
As the first butter-yellow crocuses peek above chocolate-brown mulch, homeowners head back from paint stores with indigo and bird’s egg blue samples — and black if they are in the know.
From Seattle Times ● Mar. 31, 2023
The entire Columbian Guard seemed to be present, their pale blue uniforms standing out like crocuses against black loam.
From "The Devil in the White City" by Erik Larson
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.
