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passionflower

[pash-uh n-flou-er]
noun
  1. any chiefly American climbing vine or shrub of the genus Passiflora, having showy flowers and a pulpy berry or fruit that in some species is edible.
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Origin of passionflower

1605–15; translation of New Latin flōs passiōnis flower of the Passion; so named because the parts of the flower were imagined as symbolic of the objects and events of Christ's Passion
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for passionflower

Historical Examples

  • She has trailed the passionflower wi' her ain hands until it is nourishing.

    Willy Reilly

    William Carleton

British Dictionary definitions for passionflower

passionflower

noun
  1. any passifloraceous plant of the tropical American genus Passiflora, cultivated for their red, yellow, greenish, or purple showy flowers: some species have edible fruitSee also granadilla
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Word Origin

C17: so called from the alleged resemblance between parts of the flower and the instruments of Christ's crucifixion
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