lotus

American  

[loh-tuhs] / ˈloʊ təs /

noun

lotuses plural

1. a plant believed to be a jujube or elm, referred to in Greek legend as yielding a fruit that induced a state of dreamy and contented forgetfulness in those who ate it.

2. the fruit itself.

3. any aquatic plant of the genus Nelumbo, of the water lily family, having shieldlike leaves and showy, solitary flowers usually projecting above the water.

4. any of several water lilies of the genus Nymphaea.

5. a decorative motif derived from such a plant and used widely in ancient art, as on the capitals of Egyptian columns.

6. any shrubby plant of the genus Lotus, of the legume family, having red, pink, yellow, or white flowers.

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lotus British  

/ ˈləʊtəs /

noun

1. (in Greek mythology) a fruit that induces forgetfulness and a dreamy languor in those who eat it

2. the plant bearing this fruit, thought to be the jujube, the date, or any of various other plants

3. any of several water lilies of tropical Africa and Asia, esp the white lotus ( Nymphaea lotus ), which was regarded as sacred in ancient Egypt

4. a similar plant, Nelumbo nucifera, which is the sacred lotus of India, China, and Tibet and also sacred in Egypt: family Nelumbonaceae

5. a representation of such a plant, common in Hindu, Buddhist, and ancient Egyptian carving and decorative art

6. any leguminous plant of the genus Lotus, of the Old World and North America, having yellow, pink, or white pealike flowers

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• lotuses
  plural

Etymology

Origin of lotus

1530–40; < Latin lōtus, lōtos < Greek lōtós the lotus plant, perhaps of Semitic origin

Example Sentences

The lotus' size made balance precarious, and its tenderness made walking painful.

From Time Magazine Archive

Thus while he spake the lady bent her head To hide her cheek, now blushing rosy red, And numbered o'er with seeming care the while Her lotus' petals in sweet maiden guile.

From The Birth of the War-God A Poem by Kalidasa by Kalidasa

He spake to Vishṇu, and on Indra smiled, To Brahmá bowed—the lotus' mystic child.

From The Birth of the War-God A Poem by Kalidasa by Kalidasa

Methinks that erst Thy flower was of our earth a part, Some angel hand the seed immersed In fragrance of the lotus' heart, And dropped it from the realm of calm.

From Debris Selections from Poems by Wagner, Madge Morris

The animal forms were too crude to express full divinity; the human being was uniquely given a tremendous mental capacity-the 'thousand-petaled lotus' of the brain-as well as acutely awakened occult centers in the spine.

From Autobiography of a Yogi by Yogananda, Paramahansa