flowery, a.
(ˈflaʊərɪ)
[f. flower n. + -y1.]
1. a. Abounding in or covered with flowers; producing flowers.
| 13.. E.E. Allit. P. A. 57, I felle vpon þat floury flaȝt. c 1374 Chaucer Boeth. iv. metr. vi. 111 (Cambr. MS.) The floury ȝer [orig. florifer annus]. c 1586 C'tess Pembroke Ps. xcii. iii, The wicked grow Like fraile, though flowry grasse. 1590 Shakes. Mids. N. iv. i. 1 Come, sit thee downe vpon this flowry bed. 1630 Milton Song May Morn., The flowery May, who from her green lap throws The yellow cowslip. a 1751 Doddridge Hymns (1758) 38 The flow'ry Spring at thy Command Embalms the Air. 1781 Cowper Retirement 179 The fruits that hang on pleasure's flowery stem. 1808 J. Barlow Columb. i. 91 No more thy flowery vales I travel o'er. |
b. In plant-names. † flowery cole = cauliflower.
| 1578 Lyte Dodoens iv. vi. 554 The thirde kinde is called..in English, Flowrie Cole, or Cypres Colewurtes. 1853 G. Johnston Bot. E. Borders 171 Chenopodium bonus Henricus, Flowery-Docken. |
c. Flowery Empire, Flowery Kingdom, Flowery Land, or Flowery Nation [transl. Chinese hwa kwo]: China. Flowery Land also = Florida.
| 1847 R. Fortune Three Years' Wand. i. 2 Was this..the ‘flowery land’,..of which I had heard so much in England? 1859 Mayne Reid O{cced}eola i, The Flowery Land. 1862 Once a Week 26 July 138/1 Celestials of the ‘flowery’ empire. 1867 F. S. Cozzens Sayings i. 4 Silk, sir, came from the Flowery Nation. 1870 Macm. Mag. XXIII. 172/1 Nor has Christianity..ever been able to obtain a solid footing in the Flowery Land [sc. China]. 1901 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 30 Oct. 8/4 Two of the big Chinese companies have had men at work at Ross Bay cemetery..exhuming the bodies of their dead countrymen for shipment home to China where all loyal citizens of the Flowery Kingdom wish to have their last resting place. |
d. flowery dell, rhyming slang for a prison cell. Also ellipt.
| [1859 Hotten Dict. Mod. Slang 40 Flowery, lodging, or house entertainment.] 1925 E. Jervis 25 Yrs. in Six Prisons i. 16, I talked to him of his ‘flowery’ (‘flowery dell’ rhymes with ‘cell’, hence ‘flowery’). 1938 F. D. Sharpe Sharpe of Flying Squad xxiv. 248, I bangs and rattles on the door of the Flowery until the screw comes. 1970 T. Clayton Men in Prison vi. 128 Found aht on the Moor,..that if you have a new play to read weekends in the flowery..you can kid yourself you're having a Saturday night aht. |
† 2. Flourishing, vigorous. Obs.—1
| a 1420 Hoccleve De Reg. Princ. 877 Now age unorne away puttethe favour, That floury youthe in his cesoun conquerde. |
3. Composed of flowers; having the nature of flowers; proceeding from or characteristic of flowers.
| 1635–56 Cowley Davideis i. 236 Neighbring Hermon sweated flowry dew. 1648 J. Beaumont Psyche xix. ccxl, Herby and floury Gallantry combine Their fairest powers to make her [Earth's] mantle fine. 1712 Pope Ep. Miss Blount 65 As flow'ry bands in wantonness are worn. 1727–46 Thomson Summer 212 The flowery race..their new-flushed bloom resign. 1791 Mrs. Radcliffe Rom. Forest i, She viewed the flowery luxuriance of the turf. 1856 Kane Arct. Expl. I. xxi. 266 The first warm snows..enshrine the flowery growths. |
4. dial. (See quot.)
| 1674–91 Ray N.C. Words, Flowry, florid, handsom, fair, of a good complexion. 1787–90 in Grose Provinc. Gloss. 1838 in Holloway Dict. Provinc. |
5. Ornamented with figures of flowers or floral designs.
| 1667 Milton P.L. xi. 881 As a flourie verge, to binde The..skirts of that same watrie Cloud. 1725 Pope Odyss. iii. 596 O'er his fair limbs a flowery vest he threw. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. i. v, There was a flowery carpet on the floor. |
6. Abounding in flowers of speech; full of fine words and showy expressions, florid.
| 1603 Shakes. Meas. for M. iii. i. 83 Thinke you I can a resolution fetch From flowrie tendernesse? 1737 Pope Hor. Ep. ii. i. 146 And every flowery courtier writ romance. 1767 Sir W. Jones Seven Fount. Poems (1777) 43 Bowers which oft in flowery lays..Arabian poets praise. 1784 R. Bage Barham Downs I. 275 Certain flowery gentlemen, who told us, in very pretty language..that [etc.]. 1824 Syd. Smith Wks. (1867) II. 191 The answer..was plain and practical; not flowery. 1879 Dixon Windsor II. xvi. 176 A man of flowery tongue. |
7. Her. = fleury.
| 1681 T. Jordan London's Joy 9 A Double Treasure flowry Counter flowry Mars. 1771 Kimber & Johnson Baronetage Eng. III. 387 Flowery. This word signifies flowered, or adorned with the French lily. |
8. Comb., as flowery-kirtled, flowery-mantled.
| 1621 G. Sandys Ovid's Met. ii. (1626) 32 She..makes The flowry-mantled Earth her happy bed. 1634 Milton Comus 254 Amidst the flowery-kirtled Naiades. 1810 Associate Minstr. 75 The flowery-mantled Spring. |
Hence ˈflowerily adv., in a flowery manner. ˈfloweriness, the quality of being flowery.
| 1730–6 in Bailey (folio), Floweriness. 1783 Blair Lect. I. xx. 422 That agreeable floweriness of fancy and style. 1821 New Monthly Mag. II. 176 The floweryness and green over-growth of the past season. 1886 Pall Mall G. 31 Dec. 4/2 The critical judgment so flowerily expressed. 1890 Temple Bar Mag. July 440 All the neighbourhood, he remarked, flowerily, was talking..about Miss Arden's tulip-beds. |