wake-robin

American  

[weyk-rob-in] / ˈweɪkˌrɒb ɪn /

noun

1. the cuckoopint.

2. any of various plants belonging to the genus Trillium, native to eastern North America, of the lily family, as T. erectum, having rank-smelling purple, yellow, or white flowers.

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wake-robin British  

noun

1. any of various North American herbaceous plants of the genus Trillium, such as T. grandiflorum, having a whorl of three leaves and three-petalled solitary flowers: family Trilliaceae

2. any of various aroid plants, esp the cuckoopint

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Etymology

Origin of wake-robin

First recorded in 1520–30

Example Sentences

In quaint sage-green draperies, she seemed a flower, with her small vivid face irresistibly reminding Saxon of a springtime wake-robin.

From The Valley of the Moon by London, Jack

Fresh green heads of bosky ferns and wake-robin were pushing up through the old mats of last year's foliage.

From A Busy Year at the Old Squire's by Stephens, C. A. (Charles Asbury)

You will know where to find the yellow violet, and the wake-robin, and the pink lady-slipper, and the scarlet sage, and the fringed gentian.

From The Blue Flower by Van Dyke, Henry

Among the names of the Arum may be noticed "parson in the pulpit," "cows and calves," "lords and ladies," and "wake-robin."

From The Folk-lore of Plants by Dyer, T. F. Thiselton (Thomas Firminger Thiselton)

Herb′-Par′is, Paris quadrifolia, related to wake-robin; Herb′-Pē′ter, the cowslip or primrose; Herb′-Rob′ert, a common kind of geranium; Herb′-trin′ity, the pansy.—adj.

From Chambers's Twentieth Century Dictionary (part 2 of 4: E-M) by Various