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shinleaf

American

[shin-leef] / ˈʃɪnˌlif /

noun

plural

shinleaves

a North American plant, Pyrola elliptica, having leaves used formerly for shinplasters.
any plant of the genus Pyrola.

shinleaf British

/ ˈʃɪnˌliːf /

noun

the usual US name for wintergreen

"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

Etymology

Origin of shinleaf

An Americanism dating back to 1810–20; shin ¹ + leaf

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.

He observed among the wild plants that she had gathered the mottled leaves and waxy blossoms of the pipsissewa and its cousin the shinleaf.

From Lippincott's Magazine of Popular Literature and Science, Vol. 26, October, 1880 by Various

These pretty plants are called "shinleaf," because the leaves of some of the species were used by the English peasantry as plasters which they applied to bruises or sores.

From The Wild Flowers of California: Their Names, Haunts, and Habits by Parsons, Mary Elizabeth

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023