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oxalis

[ok-suh-lis, ok-sal-is]
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noun
  1. any plant of the genus Oxalis, comprising the wood sorrels.
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Origin of oxalis

1595–1605; < Latin: garden sorrel, sour wine < Greek oxalís, derivative of oxýs sharp
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for oxalis

Historical Examples

  • Lythrum and the trimorphic Oxalis are the most wonderful cases.

    More Letters of Charles Darwin Volume II

    Charles Darwin

  • Have you seeds of Oxalis sensitiva, which I see mentioned in books?

  • Can you spare me a good plant (or even two) of Oxalis sensitiva?

  • Oxalis stricta (yellow wood-sorrel), 1853, at Smith's and his wood-path.

    The Maine Woods

    Henry David Thoreau

  • The flowers of all the species of Oxalis, the Wood-sorrel, are very pretty.

British Dictionary definitions for oxalis

oxalis

noun
  1. any plant of the genus Oxalis, having clover-like leaves which contain oxalic acid and white, pink, red, or yellow flowers: family OxalidaceaeSee also wood sorrel
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Word Origin

C18: via Latin from Greek: sorrel, sour wine, from oxus acid, sharp
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