HEATHER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does heather mean? 

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

1. common Old World heath represented by many varieties; low evergreen grown widely in the northern hemisphere

2. interwoven yarns of mixed colors producing muted greyish shades with flecks of color

  Familiarity information: HEATHER used as a noun is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• HEATHER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Common Old World heath represented by many varieties; low evergreen grown widely in the northern hemisphere

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

broom; Calluna vulgaris; heather; ling; Scots heather

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

heath (a low evergreen shrub of the family Ericaceae; has small bell-shaped pink or purple flowers)

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

Calluna; genus Calluna (one species)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Interwoven yarns of mixed colors producing muted greyish shades with flecks of color

Classified under:

Nouns denoting attributes of people and objects

Synonyms:

heather; heather mixture

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

color; coloring; colour; colouring (a visual attribute of things that results from the light they emit or transmit or reflect)

 Context examples 

Beat high and low among the heather, and a pot of wine to the lucky marksman.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

We were fortunate enough to catch an early train at Waterloo, and in a little under an hour we found ourselves among the fir-woods and the heather of Woking.

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

Now, the Common where I walk with Dora is all in bloom, a field of bright gold; and now the unseen heather lies in mounds and bunches underneath a covering of snow.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

On the path, too, and among the heather were dark stains of clotted blood.

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

He was quietly dressed in a suit of heather tweed with a soft cloth cap which he had laid down upon my books.

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

The population here must be thin, and I see no passengers on these roads: they stretch out east, west, north, and south—white, broad, lonely; they are all cut in the moor, and the heather grows deep and wild to their very verge.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

Sometimes, with a snap and a thud, one axle would come to the ground, whilst a wheel reeled off amidst the tussocks of heather, and roars of delight greeted the owners as they looked ruefully at the ruin.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

The black man sprang high up into the air, and shot out both his arms and his legs, coming down all a-sprawl among the heather.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

There were shady trees, and heather, and, as far as the eye could see, a rich landscape.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I had just made out that the gig contained a man and a woman, when suddenly I saw it swerve off the road, and come with a galloping horse and bounding wheels right across the moor, crashing through the gorse bushes, and sinking down to the hubs in the heather and bracken.

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)