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immortelle

[im-awr-tel]
noun
  1. an everlasting plant or flower, especially Xeranthemum annuum.
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Origin of immortelle

1825–35; < French, noun use of feminine of immortel immortal; see -elle
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for immortelle

Historical Examples

  • Captain Grant, a fine fellow, put a wreath or immortelle upon the coffin as it passed us in church.

    The Personal Life Of David Livingstone

    William Garden Blaikie

  • I put out my hand and touched a yellow blossom; it felt like an immortelle on a funeral pillow.

    The Mystery of Choice

    Robert William Chambers

  • The design on the monument was of a girl hanging an immortelle upon a cross.

    The English in the West Indies

    James Anthony Froude

  • Immortelle, im-mor-tel′, n. any one of the flowers commonly called everlasting.

  • It will be hard for me to take a part in a masquerade, but the memory of my parents demands this immortelle from me.

    Freezing a Mother-in-Law

    Thomas Edgar Pemberton

British Dictionary definitions for immortelle

immortelle

noun
  1. any of various plants, mostly of the family Asteraceae (composites), that retain their colour when dried, esp Xeranthemum annuumAlso called: everlasting, everlasting flower
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Word Origin

C19: from French (fleur) immortelle everlasting (flower)
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 immortelle

n.

"flower which preserves its shape and color after being dried," 1832, from French fem. of immortel "undying" (see immortal).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper