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mariposa

British

/ ˌmærɪˈpəʊzə, -sə /

noun

Also called: mariposa lily. mariposa tulip. any of several liliaceous plants of the genus Calochortus, of the southwestern US and Mexico, having brightly coloured tulip-like flowers

"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

Etymology

Origin of mariposa

C19: from Spanish: butterfly; from the likeness of the blooms to butterflies

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.

Numerous trails and parks in the Santa Monica Mountains have wildflower clusters right now, particularly California and fire poppies, lupines and mariposa lilies.

From Los Angeles Times

Indiscriminate in taste, the mariposas flittered over cultivated gardens as happily as they danced over thorn-ridden lots and neglected fields.

From Literature

There are native and nonnative plants all around the Bowl, but this area in particular is home to Plummer’s mariposa lily, a rare plant.

From Los Angeles Times

“Do any of you know what mariposa means?”

From Washington Post

And the alkali mariposa lily and ash meadows blazing star are among the plants that grow only along this river.

From New York Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023