purslane

[ purs-leyn, -lin ]

/ ˈpɜrs leɪn, -lɪn /

noun

a low, trailing plant, Portulaca oleracea, having yellow flowers, used as a salad plant and potherb.Compare purslane family.

any other plant of the purslane family.

Nearby words

purse-seine, purse-string instrument, purse-string suture, pursed lips breathing, purser, purslane, purslane family, pursuance, pursuant, pursue, pursuer

Origin of purslane

1350–1400; Middle English purcelan(e) < Middle French porcelaine < Late Latin porcillāgin- (stem of porcillāgō), for Latin porcillāca, variant of portulāca portulaca

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Examples from the Web for purslane

The paths, once graveled, are overgrown with purslane; but, to be accurate there is no trace of a path.
La Grande Breteche|Honore de Balzac
Purslane is one of the kitchen garden plants most widely diffused throughout the old world from the earliest times.
Origin of Cultivated Plants|Alphonse De Candolle
The two highest families are the purslane family (Portulacaceæ) and pink family (Caryophylleæ).
Elements of Structural and Systematic Botany|Douglas Houghton Campbell
The purslane, when fresh and green, is much relished by camels.
The Caravan Route between Egypt and Syria|Ludwig Salvator

In among the sweet peas were many little tufts of purslane, and purslane is very good to eat, as anybody knows who has tried it.
Among the Night People|Clara Dillingham Pierson

British Dictionary definitions for purslane

purslane

/ (ˈpɜːslɪn, -leɪn) /

noun

a weedy portulacaceous plant, Portulaca oleracea, with small yellow flowers and fleshy leaves, which are used in salads and as a potherb

any of various similar or related plants, such as sea purslane and water purslane

Word Origin for purslane

C14 purcelane, from Old French porcelaine, from Late Latin porcillāgō, from Latin porcillāca, variant of portulāca

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