daisy

[dey-zee]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR daisy ON THESAURUS.COM

noun, plural dai·sies.

any of various composite plants the flowers of which have a yellow disk and white rays, as the English daisy and the oxeye daisy.

Also called daisy ham. a small section of pork shoulder, usually smoked, boned, and weighing from two to four pounds.Compare picnic(def 3).

Slang. someone or something of first-rate quality: That new car is a daisy.

a cheddar cheese of cylindrical shape, weighing about 20 pounds.

Idioms

push up daisies, Informal. to be dead and buried.

Origin of daisy

before 1000; Middle English dayesye, Old English dægesēge the day's eye

Related formsdai·sied, adjective

Can be confuseddais daisy days

Daisy

[dey-zee]

noun

a female given name.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for daisy

coward, crybaby, pushover, blemish, blotch, mole, milksop, wimp, namby-pamby, baby, pantywaist, chicken, cuckold, pansy, daisy, wuss, jellyfish, caitiff, loser, schlemiel

Examples from the Web for daisy

Contemporary Examples of daisy

Even the valor of tragedy is denied to Daisy, “a woman born with a voice that lacks a tragic register.”
Carol Shields’s Tale Of Secondhand Life
Nathaniel Rich
October 26, 2014
The ad begins with a young girl counting the petals she is pulling off a daisy.
F-111: Death-Dealing, Pop-Art Masterpiece
Nicolaus Mills
October 15, 2014
The odd (though beautiful) pair here is Daisy and Violet Hilton, conjoined twins who were a hit on the vaudeville circuit.
Fall Broadway Preview: 'This Is Our Youth,' Bradley Cooper as ‘The Elephant Man,' and More
Janice Kaplan
September 11, 2014
A helping of free PR, all while skillfully avoiding the exorbitant day rate of British fashion model Daisy Lowe.
How Marc Jacobs Punk’d the Modeling World
Lizzie Crocker
July 8, 2014
Instead of sleeping with them, however, Joffrey forces Ros to beat Daisy with a whip… and then a giant club.
Game of Thrones’ 8 Most Gruesome Deaths: From The Mountain’s Exploding Head Kill to Rat Torture
Marlow Stern
June 4, 2014

Historical Examples of daisy

Daisy laughed gayly at recollection of the London woman's jesting.
In the Valley
Harold Frederic
I went over to where Daisy stood, by the edge of the flower-bed.
In the Valley
Harold Frederic
Even more, sir, I prize the hope that Daisy will share it with me--as my wife!
In the Valley
Harold Frederic
A hundred bridegrooms could not make her less our Daisy than she was.
In the Valley
Harold Frederic
We did not visit other houses much--Daisy and I--but held ourselves to a degree apart.
In the Valley
Harold Frederic

British Dictionary definitions for daisy

daisy

noun plural -sies

a small low-growing European plant, Bellis perennis, having a rosette of leaves and flower heads of yellow central disc flowers and pinkish-white outer ray flowers: family Asteraceae (composites)

Also called: oxeye daisy, marguerite, moon daisy a Eurasian composite plant, Leucanthemum vulgare having flower heads with a yellow centre and white outer rays

any of various other composite plants having conspicuous ray flowers, such as the Michaelmas daisy and Shasta daisy

slang an excellent person or thing

pushing up the daisies dead and buried

Derived Formsdaisied, adjective

Word Origin for daisy

Old English dægesēge day's eye

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

Word Origin and History for daisy

Old English dægesege, from dæges eage "day's eye," because the petals open at dawn and close at dusk. (See day (n.) + eye (n.)). In Medieval Latin it was solis oculus "sun's eye." As a female proper name said to have been originally a pet form of Margaret (q.v.).

Daisy-cutter first attested 1791, originally of horses that trot with low steps; later of cricket (1889) and baseball hits that skim along the ground. Daisy-chain in the "group sex" sense is attested from 1941. Pushing up daisies "dead" is attested from 1918, but variants with the same meaning go back to 1842.

Idioms and Phrases with daisy

daisy

In addition to the idiom beginning with daisy

daisy chain

also see:

fresh as a daisy
push up daisies