crucifer

American  

[kroo-suh-fer] / ˈkru sə fər /

noun

1. a person who carries a cross, as in ecclesiastical processions.

2. Botany. a cruciferous plant.

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crucifer British  

/ ˈkruːsɪfə, kruːˈsɪfərəs /

noun

1. any plant of the family Brassicaceae (formerly Cruciferae ), having a corolla of four petals arranged like a cross and a fruit called a siliqua. The family includes the brassicas, mustard, cress, and wallflower

2. a person who carries a cross

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crucifer Scientific  

/ kro̅o̅′sə-fər /

1. Any of various plants in the mustard family (Cruciferae or Brassicaceae), including many important food plants, such as bok choy, cabbage, and radishes, as well as certain ornamental flowers.

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Other Word Forms

• cruciferous adjective

Etymology

Origin of crucifer

1565–75; < Late Latin, equivalent to Latin cruci- (stem of crux ) cross + -fer -fer

Example Sentences

Which makes for some desperate shoppers who will pay any price to get their hands on the coveted crucifer.

From Washington Post • Jan. 15, 2016

Anda skinny little substitute crucifer, home from boarding school, would tell himself tremblingly: "Boy, I sure do."

From Time Magazine Archive

Into the crowded cathedral filed a crucifer and 14 men in white cotton robes.

From Time Magazine Archive

To assist the red-robed Episcopal primate in the job at hand were the young man's onetime headmaster as preacher, his younger brother as crucifer, two of his cousins as crosier-bearer and litanist.

From Time Magazine Archive

What fees were bestowed on his crucifer, marshall, and other servants.

From Bibliomania; or Book-Madness A Bibliographical Romance by Dibdin, Thomas Frognall