peony
(ˈpiːənɪ)
Forms: α. 1 peonie. β. 3 pyone, (pioine), 4 piane, 4–5 pione, 5 pyon, -oun, -an, (pyione). γ. 5–6 pyonie, -ony, -onye, pionye, pyany, -ye, 6 pionee, 6–7 pionie, peionie, peonie, 6–9 piony, 7 peiony, pæonie, 8 pioney, 6– peony, 7– pæony. δ. 7, 9 Eng. and U.S. dial. piny.
[In OE., peonie wk. fem., ad. late L. (and It.) peōnia, L. pæōnia (Pliny); in ME., pione, a. northern F. (Norm. and Picard) pione = OF. peone, peoine, pioine, mod.F. pivoine; in 15th c., pyonie, piony, peony, pæony, conformed to L. pæōnia, a. Gr. παιωνία the peony, f. Παιών, Pæon, the name of the physician of the gods, a physician; cf. παιώνιος healing, medicinal.]
1. A plant (or flower) of the genus Pæonia (family Ranunculaceæ), comprising stout herbs, or rarely shrubs, with large handsome globular flowers of various shades of red and white, often becoming double under cultivation; esp. the commonly cultivated P. officinalis, a native of central Asia and southern Europe, with flowers usually dark red.
The root, flowers, and seeds were formerly used in medicine, and the seeds also as a spice (quots. 1299, 1362, etc.).
male peony and female peony, old names for P. corallina and P. officinalis respectively. (These names are erroneously reversed in Miller's Gardener's Dict. and New Syd. Soc. Lex.) tree peony, the shrubby species P. Moutan, a native of China.
| α c 1000 Sax. Leechd. I. 168 Ðeos wyrt ðe man peonian nemneð wæs funden fram peonio þam ealdre. |
| β c 1265 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 557/28 Pionia i. pioine. 1299 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 495, iij li. de pyone, iijs. ijd. ob. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. v. 155, I haue peper and piane [B. v. 312 piones; C. vii. 359 pionys] and a pound of garlek. a 1400 Pistill of Susan 108 Þe persel, þe passenep..Þe pyon, þe peere. c 1450 Cov. Myst. (Shaks. Soc.) 22 Here is peper, pyan, and swete lycorys. |
| γ 14.. Stockh. Med. MS. ii. 336 in Anglia XVIII. 315 Take v greynes of pionye. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 395/2 Pyany, herbe, pionia. Ibid. 401/1 Pyony, herbe, idem quod pyanye. 1533 Elyot Cast. Helthe iii. v. (1539) 60 b, Pourgers of choler..Pyonie. 1548 Turner Names of Herbes 59 Peony the female groweth in euery countrey, but I neuer saw the male sauing only in Anwerp. 1591 Sylvester Du Bartas i. iii. 712 About an Infants neck hang Peonie, It cures Alcydes cruell Maladie. 1610 W. Folkingham Art of Survey i. ii. 38 Dry earth for Peionie, with sand for Paunces. 1706 Phillips, Pæonia, the Peony or Piony, a Flower, the Roots of which are of great Use in Physick. 1784 Cowper Task i. 35 There might ye see the pioney spread wide, The full-blown rose, the shepherd and his lass. 1867 Pearson Hist. Eng. I. 56 It is even possible that to Rome we owe the rose, the lily, and the pæony. |
| δ 1616 W. Browne Brit. Past. ii. iii, They did dispose The ruddy Piny with the lighter Rose. 1887 Kentish Gloss., Pinies (pei·niz), sb. pl. Peonies. 1904 Dialect Notes II. 427 Piny, n., peony. 1913 G. S. Porter Laddie vi. 165 Her people..spent much money on the biggest tombstone in the cemetery, and planted pinies and purple phlox on her. 1976 Columbus (Montana) News (Joint Suppl.) 24 June 4/4 Even though it had medicinal value, colonial housewives did not as a rule include the peony in their herb gardens, but set it out among their flowers. They felt that the ‘glory of the front yard was the old-fashioned early red {oqq}Piny{cqq}’. |
2. attrib. and
Comb. a. attrib. or as adj. Resembling a peony-flower, dark red;
esp. of the cheeks, plump and rosy.
b. Comb., as
peony-bush,
peony-root,
peony-seed;
peony-faced,
peony-flowered,
peony-pink,
peony-red adjs. † peony-kernel, a peony-seed;
† peony-water, a drink made from the peony.
| 1548 Turner Names of Herbes 59 Peony roote is hote in the fyrst and dry in the thyrde degree. 1694 Salmon Bate's Dispens. (1713) 16/2 You may give it either alone, or in Black-cherry-water, or Peony-Water. 1796 H. Glasse Cookery xxi. 327 Stick the cream with piony kernels. 1810 Splendid Follies III. 48 Mopping their piony cheeks with a handkerchief. 1813 M. Edgeworth Let. 19 Apr. (1971) 21 Her color is less of the peony red than it used to be. 1892 T. Hardy Well-Beloved i. v, The beating of the wind and rain and spray had inflamed her cheeks to peony hues. 1895 Daily Chron. 28 Aug. 3/5 Rose-flowered, pæony-flowered, and Japanese asters. 1905 Daily Chron. 15 May 3/3 A pretty hat.., made in soft Manilla straw, in the natural colouring, and trimmed with one large pink peony, in soft satin and chiffon, and folded draperies of Louisine silk ribbon, in peony-pink shot with white. 1906 Ibid. 4 Oct. 6/5 A new variety of peony⁓flowered, or art dahlia, in crimson and pink, is shown. 1907 Ibid. 18 Sept. 3/5 Some very fine examples of the new peony-flowered variety of dahlia. 1927 Eaton's News Weekly 12 Mar. 20 This pretty..frock..comes also in gooseberry green and palmetto green, or in peony red tones. 1957 T. R. H. Lebar Dahlias for Everyone ii. 19 The peony flowered varieties..had comparatively flat petals. 1976 W. E. Shewell-Cooper Basic Bk. Dahlia Growing ii. 16 Paeony-flowered Dahlias have blooms with two or more rings of generally flattened ray florets, the centre forming a disc. |