First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English rose mary (by folk etymology, influenced by rose 1 and the name Mary ), from Latin rōs “dew” + marīnus “marine,” or rōs maris “dew of the sea” (in English the final -s mistaken for plural sign)
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Some plants infuse their leaves with chemicals that are toxic to pests but useful to humans in moderation, such as the bitter tannins in tea and the fragrant oils in mint and rosemary.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 16, 2026
The “charcoal forest room” includes hanging bags of dried mugwort from Korea that smell similar to rosemary.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 20, 2026
In a large bowl, combine the broken Ritz crackers, Parmesan, fennel seed, rosemary, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper and red pepper flakes, if using.
From Salon ● Jul. 14, 2026
He grows about 60 different crops, including herbs such as rosemary and thyme, heirloom tomatoes and cucumbers, and pick-your-own strawberries and flowers.
From MarketWatch ● Jun. 2, 2026
“It’s an old recipe, rosemary and thyme. See if you like it.”
From "East of Eden" by John Steinbeck
Before Washington's call, Rosemary Di Carlo, the UN's Under-Secretary-General for Political and Peacebuilding Affairs, warned a "worrying aspect of the conflict in Sudan is its increasing complexity."
From Barron's ● Aug. 24, 2026
Rosemary and Peter Grant, a married pair of evolutionary biologists who studied songbirds on Daphne Major, a small volcanic island in the Galápagos archipelago, are the subjects of Jonathan Weiner’s “The Beak of the Finch.”
From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 24, 2026
Rosemary Candy and children Chris and Jennifer explain why they turned down countless offers to make a film about the late actor — until ‘John Candy: I Like Me.’
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 12, 2026
Fedorenko's group found a way around that obstacle by working with Rosemary Varley, a neuroscientist at University College London who studies acquired language disorders, and her team.
From Science Daily ● Aug. 11, 2026
Rosemary had been re-leased very early in her training.
From "The Giver" by Lois Lowry
We inspect the stunted rosemaries along the edge of a path sheltered by a rocky, wooded slope; we lift the branches that spread over the ground.
From The Life of the Spider by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos
“Before we divide, Let us dip our rosemaries In one rich bowl of wine, to this brave girl And to the gentleman.”
From An Orkney Maid by Amelia Edith Huddleston Barr
I rear some young Philanthus-grubs, already waxing large; but, instead of supplying them with the prey taken from the burrows, I give them game of my own catching, game replete with nectar from the rosemaries.
From More Hunting Wasps by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos
One half remained in my study, under a wire-gauze cover, with, small bunches of brushwood as supports; the other half were experiencing the vicissitudes of open-air life on the rosemaries in the enclosure.
From The Life of the Spider by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos
When exposed to the full force of the sun, however, on the rosemaries in the enclosure, the balloons burst and shoot forth a ruddy flood of floss and tiny animals.
From The Life of the Spider by Alexander Teixeira de Mattos
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
