tulip

[ too-lip, tyoo- ]

/ ˈtu lɪp, ˈtyu- /

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noun

any of various plants belonging to the genus Tulipa, of the lily family, cultivated in many varieties, and having lance-shaped leaves and large, showy, usually erect, cup-shaped or bell-shaped flowers in a variety of colors.

a flower or bulb of such a plant.

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Origin of tulip

1570–80; earlier tulipa<New Latin, apparently back formation from Italian tulipano (taken as adj.) <Turkish tülbent turban (from a fancied likeness); see turban

OTHER WORDS FROM tulip

tu·lip·like, adjective

Words nearby tulip

tularemia, tule, Tuléar, tule fog, tule perch, tulip, tulip chair, tulipomania, tulip tree, tulipwood, Tull

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use tulip in a sentence

Food shortages forced the family to eat tulip bulbs to survive.
Bernard Haitink, acclaimed Dutch orchestra conductor, dies at 92|Matt Schudel|October 24, 2021|Washington Post
Finally, there’s no letdown as you drop down the west side, where the Skagit Valley opens into vast tulip fields and the coastal bluffs and forests of Deception Pass State Park.
5 of the American West’s Most Iconic Roads|kklein|August 8, 2021|Outside Online
The GoFundMe campaign that House of Tulip has launched has thus far raised $412,995.
New Orleans shelter to be ‘forever home’ for homeless trans people|Michael K. Lavers|August 27, 2020|Washington Blade
If you drink from a flute, do so from a tulip-shape one to concentrate the notes, Simonetti-Bryan says.
Champagne: You’re Drinking It All Wrong|Kayleigh Kulp|December 20, 2014|DAILY BEAST

Tulip Fever will be directed by Justin Chadwick, who also made The Other Boleyn Girl.
Cressida Bonas Cast In New Weinstein Movie|Tom Sykes|June 11, 2014|DAILY BEAST
Abu Hassar held the tulip up to his nose, still saying nothing.
The Fourth War: My Lunch with a Jihadi|Elliot Ackerman|January 21, 2014|DAILY BEAST
This is a very early piece by Louise Lawler, titled “(Andy Warhol and Other Artists) Tulip”.
'Still Life with Warhol'|Blake Gopnik|February 26, 2013|DAILY BEAST
He grew up in Mount Vernon, Washington, a town of 15,000 in those days, perhaps best known as the tulip-bulb capital of America.
Glenn Beck's Dark Past|John Avlon|January 22, 2010|DAILY BEAST
It is some ten inches in diameter, tulip-shaped, with a bending lip, and without supports beneath.
The Indian in his Wigwam|Henry R. Schoolcraft
Is not the rose or tulip as great an addition to even a poor man's cottage as his bed of onions or patch of potatoes?
Beacon Lights of History, Volume VI|John Lord
How dainty is that little tulip-shaped vase, with those half opened wild-rose buds!
Ruth Hall|Fanny Fern
We are attending to a yellower tulip, no doubt, when the only daffodil that Shakespeare knew is opening in the chilly wood.
Ceres' Runaway|Alice Meynell
Their cries were so pitiful that they touched the heart of the good Fairy Tulip, and she came to their aid.
Edmund Dulacs Fairy-Book|Edmund Dulac

British Dictionary definitions for tulip

tulip

/ (ˈtjuːlɪp) /

noun

any spring-blooming liliaceous plant of the temperate Eurasian genus Tulipa, having tapering bulbs, long broad pointed leaves, and single showy bell-shaped flowers

the flower or bulb of any of these plants

Derived forms of tulip

tulip-like, adjective

Word Origin for tulip

C17: from New Latin tulipa, from Turkish tülbend turban, which the opened bloom was thought to resemble

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