CROCUS

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does crocus mean? 

• CROCUS (noun)
  The noun CROCUS has 1 sense:

1. any of numerous low-growing plants of the genus Crocus having slender grasslike leaves and white or yellow or purple flowers; native chiefly to the Mediterranean region but widely cultivated

  Familiarity information: CROCUS used as a noun is very rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• CROCUS (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of numerous low-growing plants of the genus Crocus having slender grasslike leaves and white or yellow or purple flowers; native chiefly to the Mediterranean region but widely cultivated

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

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

iridaceous plant (any bulbous plant of the family Iridaceae)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "crocus"):

Crocus sativus; saffron; saffron crocus (Old World crocus having purple or white flowers with aromatic pungent orange stigmas used in flavoring food)

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

genus Crocus (a monocotyledonous genus of the family Iridaceae)

 Context examples 

Flowers peeped out amongst the leaves; snow-drops, crocuses, purple auriculas, and golden-eyed pansies.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

“But I have heard that the crocuses promise well,” continued my companion imperturbably.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Go to a mountainous area, perhaps covered with lots of powdered snow where you will see crocus lift their little heads up through the snow or moist soil.

(AstrologyZone.com, by Susan Miller)

The drop was at least twenty feet, however, and a bed of crocuses in full bloom lay beneath.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

It comes from the crocus plant Colchicum autumnale.

(Colchicine, NCI Dictionary)