‖ gladiolus
(glæˈdaɪələs, glædɪˈəʊləs)
Pl. gladioli, -oluses.
[L. (dim. of gladius sword); used as a plant-name by Pliny. Cf. F. glaieul.]
1. † a. The wild iris or gladdon. b. Any plant of the iridaceous genus Gladiolus, having sword-shaped leaves and spikes of brilliant flowers; the commonly cultivated species are South African.
Sometimes, instead of the pl. gladioli, the sing. is used with a collective force; see quots. 1664, 1866.
| c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 182 Wið blædran sare..ᵹenim þysse wyrte wyrttruman utewearde ðe man gladiolum, & oþrum naman glædene nemneþ. 1567 J. Maplet Gr. Forest 45 Gladiolus, his form and proportion of leafe is like to Sedge, his flower yealow in a maner like to the flower Deluce. 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. (1679) 21 Take up your Gladiolus now yearly, the Blades being dry. 1775 Masson in Phil. Trans. LXVI. 279 We collected a great number of beautiful plants, particularly ixiæ, irides, and gladioli. 1796 tr. Thunberg's Cape G. Hope in Pinkerton Voy. (1814) XVI. 65 It [a mole] feeds on several sorts of bulbous roots..especially Gladioluses, Ixias, Antholyzas, and Irises. 1864 Baroness Bunsen in Hare Life (1879) II. vii. 346 A clump of the large scarlet gladiolus is my daily delight at present. 1866 Cornh. Mag. Nov. 538 White arums, orchises, and pink gladiolus. 1873 Ouida Pascarel II. 162 The millet filled with crimson gladioli and great scarlet poppies. |
2. Anat. ‘A term for the second piece or body of the sternum’ (Syd. Soc. Lex. 1885).