arabis

American  

[ar-uh-bis] / ˈær ə bɪs /

noun

1. any plant of the genus Arabis, including the rock cresses.

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arabis British  

/ ˈærəbɪs /

noun

1. Also called: rock cress. any plant of the annual or perennial genus Arabis , some of which form low-growing mats with downy grey foliage and white flowers: family Brassicaceae (crucifers)

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Etymology

Origin of arabis

1570–80; < New Latin < Greek árabis (stem arabid- ) Arabian mustard (derivative with arab-, as in Arabía Arabia, Áraps Arab, etc.); probably applied to the plant because it grows in rocky or sandy soil

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Example Sentences

See Examples For:

arabis

Fill in depressions with soil and plant there and around the edges of the boulder Phlox subulata, sedum, arabis, etc.

From Making A Rock Garden by H. S. (Henry Sherman) Adams

Toadflax and arabis climb over the old garden walls: one little house looks as if its walls were held together by coils of wistaria.

From Highways and Byways in Surrey by Hugh Thomson

The news of Goosey Gander's victory had preceded them and they drove slowly through little crowds of cheering children, between old flint cottages with tiled roofs, and gardens white with arabis and overspread with fig-trees.

From Boy Woodburn A Story of the Sussex Downs by Alfred Ollivant

Such spring-flowering perennials as the white arabis, herbaceous candytufts, aubretias, primulas, and polyanthuses, should now be placed in situations where it is desired for them to flower.

From Little Folks (November 1884) A Magazine for the Young by Various

A tall, top-hatted figure, enfolded in long, shaggy gray frieze coat, came up the paved yard toward them between clouds of arabis.

From Boy Woodburn A Story of the Sussex Downs by Alfred Ollivant

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