ALFALFA

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does alfalfa mean? 

• ALFALFA (noun)
  The noun ALFALFA has 2 senses:

1. important European leguminous forage plant with trifoliate leaves and blue-violet flowers grown widely as a pasture and hay crop

2. leguminous plant grown for hay or forage

  Familiarity information: ALFALFA used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• ALFALFA (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Important European leguminous forage plant with trifoliate leaves and blue-violet flowers grown widely as a pasture and hay crop

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

alfalfa; lucerne; Medicago sativa

Hypernyms ("alfalfa" is a kind of...):

medic; medick; trefoil (any of several Old World herbs of the genus Medicago having small flowers and trifoliate compound leaves)

Meronyms (parts of "alfalfa"):

alfalfa (leguminous plant grown for hay or forage)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Leguminous plant grown for hay or forage

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("alfalfa" is a kind of...):

fodder (coarse food (especially for livestock) composed of entire plants or the leaves and stalks of a cereal crop)

Holonyms ("alfalfa" is a part of...):

alfalfa; lucerne; Medicago sativa (important European leguminous forage plant with trifoliate leaves and blue-violet flowers grown widely as a pasture and hay crop)

 Context examples 

The study found that a wild-growing tomato, a tomato used for farming, and a plant similar to alfalfa all share at least 68 families of genes that are activated in response to flooding.

(Grains in the rain, National Science Foundation)

He counted alfalfa, sugar beet, papaya, squash, eggplant, potato and apple among GM crops already in the market.

(GM tech expands with more crops to more countries, SciDev.Net)