honeysuckle

[huhn-ee-suhk-uh l]

noun

any upright or climbing shrub of the genus Diervilla, especially D. lonicera, cultivated for its fragrant white, yellow, or red tubular flowers.

Origin of honeysuckle

1225–75; Middle English honiesoukel, equivalent to honisouke (Old English hunigsūce; see honey, suck) + -el -le

Related formshon·ey·suck·led, adjective

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for honeysuckle

Historical Examples of honeysuckle

It mistook me for a honeysuckle, and gave me a peck to make sure.
Good Indian
B. M. Bower
There's a jolly lot of honeysuckle and hazelnuts in these hedges later on.
Changing Winds
St. John G. Ervine
I think I know; it has a honeysuckle arch over the gate, hasn't it?
The Carroll Girls
Mabel Quiller-Couch
He seated them by the railing, along which trailed a honeysuckle vine.
Sacrifice
Stephen French Whitman
The odor of the honeysuckle was mingled with the smell of the sea.
Sacrifice
Stephen French Whitman

British Dictionary definitions for honeysuckle

honeysuckle

noun

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

Derived Formshoneysuckled, adjective

Word Origin for honeysuckle

Old English hunigsūce, from honey + suck; see suckle

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 honeysuckle

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.