fritillary
(frɪˈtɪlərɪ)
[Anglicized form of prec. Cf. Fr. fritillaire.]
1. Any plant of the genus Fritillaria, esp. F. Meleagris (see prec.).
| 1633 Gerarde's Herball i. lxxxix. 151 In English we may call it Turky-hen or Ginny-hen Floure, and also Checquered Daffodill, and Fritillarie, according to the Latine. 1668 Wilkins Real Char. 74 Fritillary. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 74/1 The sullen Lady..some call it the black Fritillary. 1767 J. Abercrombie Ev. Man his own Gard. (1803) 47 Fritillaries, crown imperials, or any other kind of bulbous flower-roots. 1828 Miss Mitford Village Ser. iii. (1863) 531 The chequered fritillary or the tinted wood anemone. 1867 M. Arnold Thyrsis, I know what white, what purple fritillaries The grassy harvest of the river-fields Above by Ensham, down by Sandford yields. |
2. A name for several species of butterfly, e.g. the Silver-washed Fritillary (Argynnis paphia) and the Queen of Spain Fritillary (A. lathonia).
| 1857 Kingsley Two Y. Ago III. 132–3 The ‘white admirals’ and silver washed ‘fritillaries’ flit round every bramble bed. 1866 Blackmore C. Nowell xxx, Off dashed Bob after a Queen of Spain fritillary. |