daffadowndilly, daffydowndilly
Also daffe-.
[A playful expansion of daffo-dilly.]
A daffodil; used at first in the generic sense. Still a widespread popular name of the Yellow Daffodil, under the dialect forms daffadown-, -doon-, daffidown-, daffodowndilly.
| 1573 Tusser Husb. xliii. (1878) 95 Herbes, branches, and flowers, for windowes and pots..7 Daffadondillies. 1579 Spenser Sheph. Cal. Apr. 140 Strowe mee the grounde with daffadowndillies. 1708 Motteux Rabelais iv. li, Their Hair..stuck with Roses, Gilly-flowers..Daffidown-dillies. 1840 Barham Ingol. Leg., Barney Maguire ii, With roses and lillies, and daffy-down-dillies. |
2. A shrub: prob. the Mezereon, which is still so called in Yorkshire ‘from the slight similarity of the Greek name Daphne with Daffodil’ (Britten and Holland).
| 1591 Percivall Sp. Dict., Adelfa, a daffadoundilly, or rather rose bay tree, Rhododaphne. 1611 Florio, Oleándro, the weede Oleander. Also a Daffadounedillie. |