arabis

American  

[ar-uh-bis] / ˈær ə bɪs /

noun

1. any plant of the genus Arabis, including the rock cresses.

---

arabis British  

/ ˈærəbɪs /

noun

1. Also called: rock cress.  any plant of the annual or perennial genus Arabis , some of which form low-growing mats with downy grey foliage and white flowers: family Brassicaceae (crucifers)

---

Etymology

Origin of arabis

1570–80; < New Latin < Greek árabis (stem arabid- ) Arabian mustard (derivative with arab-, as in Arabía Arabia, Áraps Arab, etc.); probably applied to the plant because it grows in rocky or sandy soil

Example Sentences

So, too, spinach and lettuce may be covered with blight, while the bitter spurges, the woolly-leaved arabis, and the strong-scented thyme close by are utterly untouched.

From Falling in Love With Other Essays on More Exact Branches of Science by Allen, Grant

They walked up and down the platform, by the side of which the station-master's arabis and aubrietia, primroses and daffodils, were making a fine show.

From The Eldest Son by Marshall, Archibald

A tall, top-hatted figure, enfolded in long, shaggy gray frieze coat, came up the paved yard toward them between clouds of arabis.

From Boy Woodburn A Story of the Sussex Downs by Ollivant, Alfred

The news of Goosey Gander's victory had preceded them and they drove slowly through little crowds of cheering children, between old flint cottages with tiled roofs, and gardens white with arabis and overspread with fig-trees.

From Boy Woodburn A Story of the Sussex Downs by Ollivant, Alfred

Only one or two strayed sometimes to the early arabis, desultory and sad, driven home again by the frosty air to await the purple times of honey.

From Gone to Earth by Webb, Mary Gladys Meredith