honeysuckle
[huhn-ee-suhk-uh l]
- any upright or climbing shrub of the genus Diervilla, especially D. lonicera, cultivated for its fragrant white, yellow, or red tubular flowers.
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Origin of honeysuckle
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for honeysuckle
Historical Examples
It mistook me for a honeysuckle, and gave me a peck to make sure.
Good IndianB. M. Bower
There's a jolly lot of honeysuckle and hazelnuts in these hedges later on.
Changing WindsSt. John G. Ervine
I think I know; it has a honeysuckle arch over the gate, hasn't it?
The Carroll GirlsMabel Quiller-Couch
He seated them by the railing, along which trailed a honeysuckle vine.
SacrificeStephen French Whitman
The odor of the honeysuckle was mingled with the smell of the sea.
SacrificeStephen French Whitman
honeysuckle
- any temperate caprifoliaceous shrub or vine of the genus Lonicera: cultivated for their fragrant white, yellow, or pink tubular flowers
- any of several similar plants
- any of various Australian trees or shrubs of the genus Banksia, having flowers in dense spikes: family Proteaceae
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Word Origin
Old English hunigsūce, from honey + suck; see suckle
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for honeysuckle
n.
mid-13c., from Old English hunigsuge, meaning perhaps honeysuckle, clover, or privet, literally "honey-suck," + diminutive suffix -le. So called because "honey" can be sucked from it. In Middle English sometimes a confused rendering of Latin locusta, taken as the name of a plant.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper