SAGE

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 Dictionary entry overview: What does sage mean? 

• SAGE (noun)
  The noun SAGE has 3 senses:

1. a mentor in spiritual and philosophical topics who is renowned for profound wisdom

2. aromatic fresh or dried grey-green leaves used widely as seasoning for meats and fowl and game etc

3. any of various plants of the genus Salvia; a cosmopolitan herb

  Familiarity information: SAGE used as a noun is uncommon.

• SAGE (adjective)
  The adjective SAGE has 2 senses:

1. having wisdom that comes with age and experience

2. of the grey-green color of sage leaves

  Familiarity information: SAGE used as an adjective is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SAGE (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A mentor in spiritual and philosophical topics who is renowned for profound wisdom

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

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

mentor; wise man (a wise and trusted guide and advisor)

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

Hakham (a Hebrew title of respect for a wise and highly educated man)

mahatma ((Hinduism) term of respect for a brahmin sage)

Instance hyponyms:

Balthasar; Balthazar; Caspar; Gaspar ((New Testament) one of the three sages from the east who came bearing gifts for the infant Jesus)

Melchior ((New Testament) one of the three sages from the east who came bearing gifts for the infant Jesus; usually represented as a king of Nubia)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Aromatic fresh or dried grey-green leaves used widely as seasoning for meats and fowl and game etc

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

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

herb (aromatic potherb used in cookery for its savory qualities)

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

clary sage (fresh leaves used in omelets and fritters and with lamb)

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

common sage; ramona; Salvia officinalis (shrubby plant with aromatic greyish-green leaves used as a cooking herb)

Sense 3

Meaning:

Any of various plants of the genus Salvia; a cosmopolitan herb

Classified under:

Nouns denoting plants

Synonyms:

sage; salvia

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

herb; herbaceous plant (a plant lacking a permanent woody stem; many are flowering garden plants or potherbs; some having medicinal properties; some are pests)

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

Salvia verbenaca; vervain sage; wild clary; wild sage (Eurasian sage with blue flowers and foliage like verbena; naturalized in United States)

Mexican mint; Salvia divinorum (an herb from Oaxaca that has a powerful hallucinogenic effect; the active ingredient is salvinorin)

pitcher sage; Salvia spathacea (California erect and sparsely branched perennial)

clary; Salvia sclarea (aromatic herb of southern Europe; cultivated in Great Britain as a potherb and widely as an ornamental)

meadow clary; Salvia pratensis (tall perennial Old World salvia with violet-blue flowers; found in open grasslands)

common sage; ramona; Salvia officinalis (shrubby plant with aromatic greyish-green leaves used as a cooking herb)

cancer weed; cancerweed; Salvia lyrata (sage of eastern United States)

chaparral sage; purple sage; Salvia leucophylla (silvery-leaved California herb with purple flowers)

blue sage; Salvia lancifolia; Salvia reflexa (sage of western North America to Central America having violet-blue flowers; widespread in cultivation)

blue sage; mealy sage; Salvia farinacea (Texas sage having intensely blue flowers)

clary sage; Salvia clarea (stout Mediterranean sage with white or pink or violet flowers; yields oil used as a flavoring and in perfumery)

blue sage; Salvia azurea (blue-flowered sage of dry prairies of the eastern United States)

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

genus Salvia (large genus of shrubs and subshrubs of the mint family varying greatly in habit: sage)

• SAGE (adjective)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Having wisdom that comes with age and experience

Similar:

wise (having or prompted by wisdom or discernment)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Of the grey-green color of sage leaves

Synonyms:

sage; sage-green

Similar:

chromatic (being or having or characterized by hue)

 Context examples 

Sententious sage! so it is: but I swear by my household gods not to abuse it.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

"It's your little mind, Demi," replied the sage, stroking the yellow head respectfully.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

I can ponder life and death like a Hindoo sage.

(The Sea-Wolf, by Jack London)

And he, for all his grey years and sage experience, behaved quite as puppyishly and even a little more foolishly.

(White Fang, by Jack London)

Clary sage oil is used in the treatment of depression, stress, insomnia and deep seated tension.

(Clary Sage Oil, NCI Thesaurus)

Mr. Dick had regularly assisted at our councils, with a meditative and sage demeanour.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

A plant family of aromatic herbs and shrubs having flowers resembling the lips of a mouth and four-lobed ovaries yielding four one-seeded nutlets which includes the mints, thyme, sage, and rosemary.

(Lamiaceae, NCI Thesaurus)

An orally available, multivalent herbal formulation containing a novel mixture of whole extracts from three commonly used Chinese medicinal herbs Ganoderma lucidum (lingzhi mushroom), Salvia miltiorrhiza (Chinese sage, or danshen) and Scutellaria barbata (ban zhi lian), with potential immunomodulating, antiangiogenic, anti-inflammatory, antiproliferative and antiviral activities.

(Multifunctional/Multitargeted Anticancer Agent OMN54, NCI Thesaurus)

Fanny believed there was scarcely a second feeling in common between them; and she may be forgiven by older sages for looking on the chance of Miss Crawford's future improvement as nearly desperate, for thinking that if Edmund's influence in this season of love had already done so little in clearing her judgment, and regulating her notions, his worth would be finally wasted on her even in years of matrimony.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

I then descended to the courts of justice; over which the judges, those venerable sages and interpreters of the law, presided, for determining the disputed rights and properties of men, as well as for the punishment of vice and protection of innocence.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)