COWSLIP

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does cowslip mean? 

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

1. early spring flower common in British isles having fragrant yellow or sometimes purple flowers

2. swamp plant of Europe and North America having bright yellow flowers resembling buttercups

  Familiarity information: COWSLIP used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• COWSLIP (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Early spring flower common in British isles having fragrant yellow or sometimes purple flowers

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

cowslip; paigle; Primula veris

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

primrose; primula (any of numerous short-stemmed plants of the genus Primula having tufted basal leaves and showy flowers clustered in umbels or heads)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Swamp plant of Europe and North America having bright yellow flowers resembling buttercups

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

Caltha palustris; cowslip; kingcup; marsh marigold; May blob; meadow bright; water dragon

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

bog plant; marsh plant; swamp plant (a semiaquatic plant that grows in soft wet land; most are monocots: sedge, sphagnum, grasses, cattails, etc; possibly heath)

Holonyms ("cowslip" is a member of...):

Caltha; genus Caltha (a genus of Caltha)

 Context examples 

Peggotty's promised letter—what a comfortable letter it was!—arrived before “the half” was many weeks old; and with it a cake in a perfect nest of oranges, and two bottles of cowslip wine.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)