melilot

American  

[mel-uh-lot] / ˈmɛl əˌlɒt /

noun

1. a cloverlike plant of the genus Melilotus, of the legume family, grown as a forage plant.

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melilot British  

/ ˈmɛlɪˌlɒt /

noun

1. Also called: sweet clover.  any leguminous plant of the Old World genus Melilotus, having narrow clusters of small white or yellow fragrant flowers

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Etymology

Origin of melilot

before 1150; Middle English mellilot < Latin melilōtos < Greek melílōtos a clover, equivalent to méli honey + lōtós lotus; replacing late Old English milotis < Latin, as above

Example Sentences

I think my heart broke; but I have forgot All but the smell of the white melilot.

From The Second Book of Modern Verse; a selection from the work of contemporaneous American poets by Rittenhouse, Jessie Belle

River and leat and back-water here ran clear among willow-clad islands, all fringed deep with meadow-sweet and comfrey and butterbur and melilot.

From At Large by Benson, Arthur Christopher

Great purple snapdragons hung from clefts in the rocks, inula flashed gorgeously yellow, white melilot raised its graceful drooping blossoms, and hemp-agrimony made the bees sing a drowsy song of the brimming cup of summer.

From Wanderings by southern waters, eastern Aquitaine by Barker, Edward Harrison

In two or three species of tough Hydnum, there is a strong persistent odour somewhat like melilot or woodruffe, which does not pass away after the specimen has been dried for years.

From Fungi: Their Nature and Uses by Cooke, M. C. (Mordecai Cubitt)

Bushes of tall, white melilot, clustered with myriads of tiny flowers, exhale a sweet fragrance into the morning air.

From Some Summer Days in Iowa by Lazell, Frederick John