willow pattern

American  

noun

1. a decorative design in English ceramics, depicting chiefly a willow tree, small bridge, and two birds, derived from Chinese sources and introduced in approximately 1780: often executed in blue and white but sometimes in red and white.

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willow pattern British  

noun

1. 1. a pattern incorporating a willow tree, river, bridge, and figures, typically in blue on a white ground, used on pottery and porcelain

   2. ( as modifier )

      a willow-pattern plate

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Etymology

Origin of willow pattern

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

willow pattern

In the little dining-room, conscientiously “quaint” with its spotted crockery dogs and corner cupboard shining with willow pattern tea-cups, Milly shut the door and turned on her friend.

From Man and Maid by Nesbit, E. (Edith)

A common white-metal teapot, the heel of a half-quartern loaf, the head and tail of a herring, seen upon a blue willow pattern plate, told that the meal had not been epicurean.

From The Child Wife by Reid, Mayne

The picture is called the willow pattern not only because it is a tale of disastrous love, but because the elopement occurred when the willow begins to shed its leaves.

From From John O'Groats to Land's End by Naylor, Robert

To Sigismond Septimus Snobb, the large willow pattern plate, for the best model of a national water-butt, to be erected in the Teetotalers’ Hall of Temperance in the Water-loo Road.

From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 1, December 18, 1841 by Various

The dresser was covered with crockery and pipkins, willow pattern plates, and tea-cups and mugs.

From The Tailor of Gloucester by Potter, Beatrix