Easter lily

American

noun

any of several white-flowered lilies that are artificially brought into bloom in early spring, especially Lilium longiflorum eximium, native to Taiwan and widely cultivated.

Easter lily British

noun

any of various lilies, esp Lilium longiflorum, that have large showy white flowers

"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

Etymology

Origin of Easter lily

First recorded in 1875–80

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.

Startled first-nighters saw the heroine clad as half nun and half Easter lily, her duenna completely faceless, another nun headless and one tavern character with two heads.

From Time Magazine Archive

Like most of the others, Tony is growing the Croft, a white, sturdy, strong-stemmed Easter lily that multiplies at the rate of 150 bulbs from one bulb a season, will grow 20,000 to the acre.

From Time Magazine Archive

In the companion panel, "Seedtime," the waiting farmers attend her as she stands, sceptered with an Easter lily, and extends her benison on the land.

From The Sculpture and Mural Decorations of the Exposition A Pictorial Survey of the Art of the Panama-Pacific international exposition by Perry, Stella George Stern

Poor little Easter lily that was the cause of all this!

From Plays: Comrades; Facing Death; Pariah; Easter by Oland, Warner

But here it says that it was an Easter lily.

From Plays: Comrades; Facing Death; Pariah; Easter by Oland, Warner

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023