NOSEGAY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does nosegay mean? 

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

1. an arrangement of flowers that is usually given as a present

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

 Dictionary entry details 

• NOSEGAY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

An arrangement of flowers that is usually given as a present

Classified under:

Nouns denoting man-made objects

Synonyms:

bouquet; corsage; nosegay; posy

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

floral arrangement; flower arrangement (a decorative arrangement of flowers)

 Context examples 

So she rubbed them out, and drew little nosegays and likenesses of me and Jip, all over the tablets.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

"Here's your posy, Mother! Laurie never forgets that," she said, putting the fresh nosegay in the vase that stood in 'Marmee's corner', and was kept supplied by the affectionate boy.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

Little Red-Cap raised her eyes, and when she saw the sunbeams dancing here and there through the trees, and pretty flowers growing everywhere, she thought: Suppose I take grandmother a fresh nosegay; that would please her too.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

Then, forgetting to think of it, she was at the other end of the room, beautifying a nosegay; then, she ate her cold meat; and then she was well enough to propose a little walk.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)

Brown, soft-eyed children ran out from the quaint stone hovels to offer nosegays, or bunches of oranges still on the bough.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

There was a red velvet footstool in the best parlour, on which my mother had painted a nosegay.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

However, I’m off now once for all: I like your cow now a great deal better than this smart beast that played me this trick, and has spoiled my best coat, you see, in this puddle; which, by the by, smells not very like a nosegay.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)

I arranged them myself, remembering that you didn't like what Hannah calls a 'sot-bookay', said Laurie, handing her a delicate nosegay, in a holder that she had long coveted as she daily passed it in Cardiglia's window.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

It was the completest and most desirable bedroom ever seen—in the stern of the vessel; with a little window, where the rudder used to go through; a little looking-glass, just the right height for me, nailed against the wall, and framed with oyster-shells; a little bed, which there was just room enough to get into; and a nosegay of seaweed in a blue mug on the table.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)