blossom
noun
- flower
- flower development stage that begins when pollen is released by anther dehiscence and/or the stigma is receptive and ends with the process of pollination and/or floral organ senescence
verb
- become healthier or happier
- to develop, flourish
Wiktionary
Pronunciation: /ˈblɒs.əm/ / [ˈblɒs.m̩] / /ˈblɑ.səm/
name
Etymology: From blossom.
- A hamlet in New York.
- A city in Texas.
- A female given name.
“The resulting craze is probably attributable to a Waialua Elementary guidance teacher, Blossom Galbiso, who introduced the game into O'ahu schoolyards in 1992.”
noun
Etymology: From Middle English blosme, from Old English blostm, blostma, from Proto-Germanic *blōstmô (compare West Frisian blossem, Dutch bloesem; related to *blōstaz [compare German Blust]), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃-s- (“bloom, flower”), from *bʰleh₃- (“to bloom, to thrive”). Cognate with Albanian bleron (“to blossom, to thrive”), Latin flōs (“flower”), Flōra (“goddess of plants”). See more at blow (etymology 4).
- A flower, especially one indicating that a fruit tree is fruiting; (collectively) a mass of such flowers.
“The blossom has come early this year.”
“And on the moꝛowe / Moſes went in to the tabernacle: and beholde / the rod of Aaron of the houſſe of Leui was budded ⁊ bare bloſomes and almondes.”
- The state or season of producing such flowers.
“The orchard is in blossom.”
“Down by the River Wye, among plum-trees in blossom, Noel had laid her baby in a hammock, and stood reading a letter: […]”
- A blooming period or stage of development; something lovely that gives rich promise.
“This beauty, in the blossom of my youth, / When my first fire knew no adulterate incense, / Nor I no way to flatter, but my fondness; / […] long did I love this lady, / Long was my travail, long my trade to win her; / With all the duty of my soul, I served her.”
- The colour of a horse that has white hairs intermixed with sorrel and bay hairs.
“For colour he [Nobs, a horse] was neither black-bay, brown-bay, dapple-bay, black-grey, iron-grey, sad-grey, branded-grey, sandy-grey, dapple-grey, silver-grey, dun, mouse-dun, flea-backed, flea-bitten, rount, blossom, roan, pye-bald, rubican, sorrel, cow-coloured sorrel, bright sorrel, burnt sorrel, starling-colour, tyger-colour, wolf-colour, deer-colour, cream-colour, white, grey or black. Neither was he green, like the horse which the Emperor [Septimus] Severus took from the Parthians, […]”
verb
Etymology: From Middle English blosme, from Old English blostm, blostma, from Proto-Germanic *blōstmô (compare West Frisian blossem, Dutch bloesem; related to *blōstaz [compare German Blust]), from Proto-Indo-European *bʰleh₃-s- (“bloom, flower”), from *bʰleh₃- (“to bloom, to thrive”). Cognate with Albanian bleron (“to blossom, to thrive”), Latin flōs (“flower”), Flōra (“goddess of plants”). See more at blow (etymology 4).
- To have, or open into, blossoms; to bloom.
“ANd the Loꝛde ſpake vnto Moſes ſayenge: ſpeake vnto the childern of Iſrael and take of them / foꝛ euery pꝛyncypall houſſe a rod / of their pꝛinces ouer the houſſes of their fathers: euen .xij. roddes / and wꝛyte euery mans name apon his rod. […] And his rod whom I choſe / ſhall bloſſome: So I wyll make ceaſe from me the grudgynges of the childern of Iſrael which they grudge agenſt you.”
“The Utricularia vulgaris or bladder-wort, a yellow pea-like flower, has blossomed in stagnant pools.”
- To begin to thrive or flourish.
“A quiet, studious man, rich in the wisdom that is better than learning, the charity which calls all mankind "brother," the piety that blossoms into character, making it august and lovely.”
“Since I came back from Pomona I have done many drawings to illustrate the Inferno of Dante [Alighieri] and I find my old Italian love blossoming all over again for this greatest of all master poets, bar none.”