mayflower
noun
any of various plants that blossom in May, such as the hepatica or anemone in the United States, and the hawthorn or cowslip in England.
mayflower
American
[may-flau-er]
/ ˈmeɪˌflaʊ ər /
noun
-
mayflowers
plural
-
any of various plants that blossom in May, such as the hepatica or anemone in the United States, and the hawthorn or cowslip in England.
-
Mayflower, the ship in which the Pilgrims sailed from Southampton, England, to North America in 1620.
Mayflower
1
British
/ ˈmeɪˌflaʊə /
noun
mayflower
2
British
/ ˈmeɪˌflaʊə /
noun
-
any of various plants that bloom in May
-
another name for trailing arbutus
-
another name for hawthorn cowslip marsh marigold
Mayflower
Cultural
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of mayflower
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.
See Examples For:
“Epigea” refers to Epigaea repens, commonly known as trailing arbutus or mayflower: a low-growing shrub that produces clusters of pink flowers.
From Slate ● May 17, 2016
It may not have been that way at all, but someone found that first mayflower and loved and named it.
From Old Plymouth Trails by Winthrop Packard
In his little poem on the mayflower, Mr. Stedman catches and puts in a single line a feature of our landscape in spring that I have never before seen alluded to in poetry.
From The Writings of John Burroughs — Volume 05: Pepacton by John Burroughs
Inconsistent hyphenation in the original has been preserved, e.g. cutwork, cut-work; hand-made, handmade; lace-workers, laceworkers; may-flower, mayflower; needle-craft, needlecraft; needle-point, needlepoint; salerooms, sale-rooms; semi-circular, semicircular.
From Chats on Old Lace and Needlework by Emily Leigh Lowes
Epigaea repens is the trailing arbutus or mayflower of Atlantic America.
From Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, Volume 9, Slice 7 "Equation" to "Ethics" by Various
The Civil War, when it came, was widely seen as a duel to the death between the White Lion and the Mayflower.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026
“It’s the talk of the town,” says portfolio manager and financial adviser Larry Glazer, managing partner of Mayflower Advisors in Boston.
From MarketWatch ● May 27, 2026
The state’s new law affirms that students may examine primary sources—including the Mayflower Compact, the Declaration of Independence, the writings of early American leaders—to discuss the ideas they contain.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Apr. 9, 2026
On Thursday, Savage equated it to the Colts leaving Baltimore in Mayflower trucks over 40 years ago.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 12, 2025
I know it’s not important if our people came over on the Mayflower.
From "We Were Liars" by E. Lockhart
The two met at an audition for a community theater production in Southern California, and Nixon proposed two years later, delivering her engagement ring in a basket filled with mayflowers.
From Time ● Mar. 13, 2012
I've loved you—ever since we picked mayflowers on the hill, I think—ever since I came home from school, I know.
From Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1905 to 1906 by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery
Just went wild over these Berkshire Hills, this spring, over his first sight of mayflowers!
From Pemrose Lorry, Camp Fire Girl by Isabel Katherine Hornibrook
We know when the mayflowers and the buttercups bloom.
From The Elson Readers, Book 5 by William H. Elson
"They say the barrens are full of mayflowers," said the Story Girl.
From The Golden Road by L. M. (Lucy Maud) Montgomery
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
