flax
Americannoun
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flaxes
plural
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any plant of the genus Linum, especially L. usitatissimum, a slender, erect, annual plant having narrow, lance-shaped leaves and blue flowers, cultivated for its fiber and seeds.
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the fiber of this plant, manufactured into linen yarn for thread or woven fabrics.
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any of various plants resembling flax.
noun
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any herbaceous plant or shrub of the genus Linum , esp L. usitatissimum , which has blue flowers and is cultivated for its seeds (flaxseed) and for the fibres of its stems: family Linaceae
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the fibre of this plant, made into thread and woven into linen fabrics
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any of various similar plants
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Also called: harakeke. a swamp plant producing a fibre that is used by Māoris for decorative work, baskets, etc
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of flax
before 900; Middle English; Old English fleax; cognate with Dutch, Low German vlas, German Flachs
Vocabulary lists containing flax
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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:
Competitive sailing is never going back to the days of wooden hulls or flax sails, but when it comes to the internet, maybe there’s a lesson in there somewhere.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 24, 2026
For the first few days of the week she suggests I make a breakfast bowl of flax seeds, chia seeds, kefir, blueberries, kiwi or pomegranate.
From BBC ● Jan. 12, 2026
They look like a bunch of flax seeds glued together and taste like dense particleboard squares dipped in apple cider vinegar.
From Slate ● May 10, 2025
But a host of other row crops are also used as a source of oils, including cotton, corn, safflower, peanut and flax.
From Salon ● Jul. 29, 2024
Papa took Sarah's bags inside, where her room was ready with a quilt on the bed and blue flax dried in a vase on the night table.
From "Sarah, Plain and Tall" by Patricia MacLachlan
The Hoffs flaxes are reckoned in a similar way.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 4 "Finland" to "Fleury, Andre" by Various
The quotations for the various kinds of flaxes are made with one or other special mark termed a base mark; this usually, but not necessarily, indicates the lowest quality.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 4 "Finland" to "Fleury, Andre" by Various
The New Zealand flax gives the most perfectly soluble nitrates of any of the flaxes.
From Nitro-Explosives: A Practical Treatise by P. Gerald (Percy Gerald) Sanford
Sometimes other proportions obtain, while it is not unusual to have quotations for flaxes containing four different kinds.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 4 "Finland" to "Fleury, Andre" by Various
The marks in the Crown flaxes have the following signification:— K means Crown and is usually the base mark.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 10, Slice 4 "Finland" to "Fleury, Andre" by Various
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.
