daisy
[dey-zee]
- 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.
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- push up daisies, Informal. to be dead and buried.
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Origin of daisy
before 1000; Middle English dayesye, Old English dægesēge the day's eye
Daisy
[dey-zee]
- a female given name.
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Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
cowardcrybabypushoverblemishblotchmolemilksopwimpnamby-pambybabypantywaistchickencuckoldpansydaisywussjellyfishcaitiffloserschlemielExamples from the Web for daisy
Contemporary Examples
Even the valor of tragedy is denied to Daisy, “a woman born with a voice that lacks a tragic register.”
The ad begins with a young girl counting the petals she is pulling off a daisy.
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 MoreJanice Kaplan
September 11, 2014
A helping of free PR, all while skillfully avoiding the exorbitant day rate of British fashion model Daisy Lowe.
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 TortureMarlow Stern
June 4, 2014
Historical Examples
Daisy laughed gayly at recollection of the London woman's jesting.
In the ValleyHarold Frederic
I went over to where Daisy stood, by the edge of the flower-bed.
In the ValleyHarold Frederic
Even more, sir, I prize the hope that Daisy will share it with me--as my wife!
In the ValleyHarold Frederic
A hundred bridegrooms could not make her less our Daisy than she was.
In the ValleyHarold Frederic
We did not visit other houses much--Daisy and I--but held ourselves to a degree apart.
In the ValleyHarold Frederic
daisy
- 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
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Word Origin
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
n.
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.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
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
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.