a tall, showy plant, Amaranthus hybridus erythrostachys, of the amaranth family, having reddish foliage and thick spikes of small, red flowers.
a hairy, much-branched, plant, Polygonum orientale, of the buckwheat family, native to Asia and Australia, having pink or rose-colored flower spikes, naturalized in North America.
an amaranthaceous garden plant, Amaranthus hybridus hypochondriacus, with spikes of bristly brownish-red flowers
a tall tropical polygonaceous plant, Polygonum orientale, with hanging spikes of pink flowers
First recorded in 1620–30
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Ainsworth has prince's feather, for the amaranth; Johnson, Chalmers, Walker, and Maunder, write it princes-feather; Webster and Worcester, princes'-feather; Bolles has it princesfeather: and here they are all wrong, for the word should be prince's-feather.
From The Grammar of English Grammars by Brown, Goold
"And prince's-feather," added the lawyer, reminiscently; "that used to be a favourite of mine, I remember, when I was a country lad."
From The Deliverance; a romance of the Virginia tobacco fields by Glasgow, Ellen Anderson Gholson
Over there are things that won't blossom till late—asters, tiger-lilies and prince's feather.
From Lavender and Old Lace by Reed, Myrtle
In Vinie Mocket's garden withered and bent stalk showed where had been zinnia and prince's feather, and the grapevine over the porch was but a mass of twisted stems.
From Lewis Rand by Johnston, Mary
As the crimson-purple, plume-like prince's feather has its own royal charm in Southern gardens beside the pale and placidlily, so these luxuriant adornments, do not misbecome his full and not too fleshy person.
From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science Volume 11, No. 22, January, 1873 by Various
Finding the gorgeous spike of golden blossoms without a common name, she called it—most happily—the golden prince's feather.
From A Bird-Lover in the West by Miller, Olive Thorne
Next appeared an imposing array of sunflowers, below which prince's feather waved in crimson splendour, and the little brown capital of 'Sweden' stood revealed.
From Say and Seal, Volume I by Warner, Susan
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.
