marigold
(ˈmærɪgəʊld)
Forms: 4, 6–7 mary-gould, 4–6 marigolde, 5–9 marygold, 6 mary-, maregolde, marigoulde, mary gowles, Sc. mariguild, 7 marry-gold, 6– marigold.
[f. the proper name Mary (presumably with references to the Virgin Mary) + gold n.2
Cf. MDu. marienbloemkijn, MLG. marienblome, ‘Mary's flower’, rendering solsequium in glossaries.]
1. The name of several plants having golden or bright yellow flowers. a. A plant of the genus Calendula (family Compositæ), esp. C. officinalis, common in country gardens; it has some medicinal properties; its flowers were formerly made into a conserve, and are still sometimes used as a flavouring for soup, and to give a yellow colour to cheese.
The property possessed by the flower of opening when the sun shines (whence the L. name solsequium, F. souci) was often referred to by writers of the 16–17th c.
| 13.. in Med. Wks. 14th C. (ed. Henslow) 81 Take..i quatron of mary-goulden. a 1400 in Reliq. Ant. I. 55 Another drynk to wounde: tak confery, marigolde, matfelon [etc.]. 14.. Sloane MS. 5 in Promp. Parv. 361 note, Solsequium, Rodewort, oþer marygoldys. ? 1516 Grete Herball cxxxi, Calendula. Mary gowles, or ruddes. 1578 Lyte Dodoens ii. xiii. 164 The conserue that is made of the floures of Mary⁓goldes..cureth the trembling..of the harte. 1594 Nashe Unfort. Trav. 9 The Marigold, which opens and shuts with the Sunne. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ccxliii. 600 Calendula multiflora orbiculata. Double Globe Marigolde. Ibid. 603 Calendula alpina. Mountaine Marigold. a 1613 Overbury A Wife, etc. (1638) 70 His wit, like the Marigold, openeth with the sun. 1714 Gay Sheph. Week i. 46 Fair is the Mary⁓gold, for Pottage meet. 1848 Dickens Dombey viii, The small front-gardens had the unaccountable property of producing nothing but Marigolds. 1849 Macaulay Hist. Eng. iii. I. 321 They..brewed gooseberry wine, cured marigolds, and made the crust for the venison pasty. |
| fig. (allusive.) 1558 [Hales] Orat. Q. Eliz. in Foxe A. & M. (1631) III. xii. 977/1 Men..who were Marigoldes, that followed Maries mad affections. |
b. Any plant of the genus
Tagetes, native to South America and Mexico, also grown in India and China, and much cultivated in gardens.
African marigold,
T. erecta;
French marigold,
T. patula.
| 1548, 1578 [see French A. 5 a]. 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ccxlvi. 609 There be extant at this day fiue sorts of Turkie Gilliflowers or African Marigolds. 1611 Cotgr., Oeillet d'Inde, the Turkie, or Affrican Marigold, or Gilliflower; also, the French Marigold, or Gingioline flower (which is the single kind of the Affrican). 1785 Martyn Rousseau's Bot. xxvi. (1794) 395 French and African Marigolds, two of the gaudy annuals of the flower-garden. 1895 B. M. Croker Village Tales (1896) 150 Wreaths of evil-smelling marigolds (that noxious flower so amazingly dear to the native of India). |
c. Chrysanthemum segetum; usually
corn-marigold, also
marigold field,
marigold wild,
yellow marigold.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens ii. xxxiii 190 Of Goldenfloure, or the wild Marygolde. 1597, etc. [see corn marigold]. 1818 Keats Endym. ii. 397 Ripe October's faded marigolds. 1838 M. Howitt Birds & Fl., Harvest-Field Fl. ii, The poppy red, the marigold, The buglos brightly blue. |
d. Applied with qualification to plants of other genera.
† marigold of Peru, the sunflower,
Helianthus;
Cape m., any plant of the genus
Dimorphotheca (
Cent. Dict. 1890);
fetid m.,
Dysodia chrysanthemoides (ibid.);
† Spanish m.,
Anemone coronaria;
water m.,
Bidens Beckii (
Treas. Bot. 1866);
West Indian m.,
Wedelia carnosa (ibid.). For
bur,
fig marigold see the first words. Also
marsh marigold.
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ccxlvii. 612 Of the flower of the Sunne, or the Marigolde of Peru. 1629 Parkinson Parad. in Sole xxv. (1656) 207 The great double Windflower of Constantinople...Some gentlewomen call this Anemone, The Spanish Marigold. |
2. An ornamental representation of the flower.
| 1634 in Anc. Invent. (Halliw. 1854) 24 One other linnen sweete-bagge imbroydered with marygolds. |
3. A variety of apple (in full
marigold apple): see
quot. 1676. ?
Obs.| 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. 87 We haue at this day that are cheefe in price the Pippin, the Romet, the Pomeroyal, the Marligold [sic]. 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort., Jan. (1679) 8 Winter-Queening, Marigold, Harvey-apple. 1676 Worlidge Vinetum Brit. 40 The Marigold-apple (sometimes called Johns Pearmain, the Kate-apple, and the Onion-apple). Ibid. 159 The Marigold-Apple (so called from its being marked in even stripes in the form of a Marigold). |
† 4. slang. A gold coin; a sovereign.
Obs.| 1663 Cowley Cutter of Coleman-st. ii. iii, Aur. Give but a Bill under your Hand to pay me five hundred Pounds when [etc]... Pun...I'll..presently go put five hundred Marygolds in a Purse for you. |
† 5. ? Some yellow enamel.
Obs.| 1529 in Wills Doctors' Comm. (Camden) 19 A mullett of dyamountes set in maregolde. |
6. A small cake garnished with almonds and currant jelly, made to resemble the flower.
| 1896 Sun 11 Dec. 1/7 Those dainty little cakes called ‘marigolds’. |
7. The colour of the marigold flower; hence
attrib. passing into adj., of this colour, bright yellow.
| 1774 Marigold colour [see sense 8]. 1839 [see café au lait (café 3)]. 1872 G. M. Hopkins Let. 22 Mar. (1956) 55, I am jaundiced all marigold under the eyes. 1916 D. H. Lawrence Amores 49 Cluck, my marigold bird, and again Cluck for your yellow darlings. 1923 Daily Mail 28 Feb. 1/3 (Advt.), Shades of ..Jade, Silver Grey or Marigold. 1975 Country Life 20 Mar. 744/2 Their clothes are matched to a limited number of colours...there are cornflower/cool cornflower, mint/cool mint, and marigold/cool marigold. |
8. attrib. and
Comb., as
marigold arrangement,
marigold colour,
marigold flower,
marigold leaf;
marigold apple (see 3);
marigold bird,
finch, the golden-crested wren or kinglet,
Regulus cristatus;
† marigold sunflower, Gerarde's name for the ‘female’ sunflower;
† marigold (flower) water, a decoction of marigold flowers;
marigold window Arch., a rose window.
| 1899 J. Cagney tr. Jaksch's Clin. Diagn. i. (ed. 4) 65 Where the segments are fewer..and result in the characteristic *marigold arrangement, the diagnosis of quartan fever may be made. |
| 1772 Rutty Nat. Hist. Dublin I. 313 Nettle creeper or *Marigold Bird, from the fine crown on its head, of the colour of a Marigold flower. |
| 1774 Goldsm. Nat. Hist. (1776) VIII. 56 A gummy fluid, of a *marigold colour. |
| 1828 Fleming Brit. Anim. 72 Golden-crested Wren..*Mary⁓gold Finch. |
| 1566 Painter Pal. Pleas. I. 32 The flaring *marigold floure, which in the moste feruent heate of the sommers day, doth appeare most glorious. 1747 Wesley Prim. Physic (1762) 89 Eat Marigold Flowers daily as a Sallad. |
| c 1450 ME. Med. Bk. (Heinrich) 169 Tak *marigolde leues..& do þer to a good quantyte of hony. |
| 1597 Gerarde Herbal ii. ccxlvii. 614 The female or *Marigolde Sunne flower hath a thicke and wooddie roote. |
| 1652 T. Cademan Distiller of Lond. 12 Aq. Calendulæ, *Marigold-water. 1692 Y-worth Art Distill. 78 Aqua Calendularum, or, Marigold Water. 1696 Salmon Fam.-Dict. (ed. 2), Marigold-Water,..This is an excellent Water for Inflamed Eyes... Marigold-flower-Water. |
| 1736 F. Drake Eboracum ii. ii. 529 A fine piece of masonry [in York Minster] in form of a wheel, or as Mr. Torre writes a marygold, from whence it is called the *marygold window. 1837 R. B. Winkles French Cathedrals 7 A rose or marigold window is placed over the central opening. |