poinsettia
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of poinsettia
1830–40; < New Latin, named after J. R. Poinsett (1799–1851), American minister to Mexico, who discovered the plant there in 1828; see -ia
Explanation
The bright red potted plants you see everywhere at Christmastime are called poinsettias. This plant is so commonly associated with the holiday that it's also known as Christmas Star. Poinsettias come from Mexico, and they get their name from Joel Roberts Poinsett, the United States' First Minister to Mexico in the 1820s. Besides unsuccessfully attempting to acquire new U.S. territory from Mexico, Poinsett was an amateur botanist who admired the brilliant red and green Flor de Nochebuena, or Christmas Eve flowers. His success lay in introducing the poinsettia to North America.
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.
BYU and Wyoming are meeting for the first time since the 2016 Poinsettia Bowl.
From Seattle Times • Sep. 22, 2022
University staff later placed pots of Poinsettia flowers, a popular Christmas decoration in Hong Kong, around the barricades.
From Reuters • Dec. 23, 2021
Poinsettia owners who are worried that their green thumb isn’t good enough to keep these plants alive might feel comfort in knowing that this tropical flower has been bred to have higher survival odds.
From Fox News • Dec. 10, 2021
TCU won 31-24 in the 2011 Poinsettia Bowl, a year after the Horned Frogs finished a 13-0 season with a win over Wisconsin in the Rose Bowl.
From Washington Times • Dec. 10, 2020
What but the Poinsettia, paltry scions of which, like the Dracæna, adorn our hothouses and dinner-tables.
From At Last by Kingsley, Charles
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.
