thistle

noun

type of plant

Wiktionary

Pronunciation: /θɪsl̩/

name

Etymology: English surname from the noun thistle. Anglicized sources include German Distel and Norwegian Tistel (see tistel).

A surname.

noun

Etymology: From Middle English thistel, from Old English þistel, from Proto-West Germanic *þistil, from Proto-Germanic *þistilaz. *þīh- from *teyg-, which is a variant of Proto-Indo-European *(s)teyg- (“to prick”); from this same Proto-Indo-European root comes English stick. Cognates include Scots thrissel, German Distel, Dutch distel, and Old Norse and Icelandic þistill.

Any of several perennial composite plants, especially of genera Cirsium, Carduus, Cynara, or Onopordum, having prickly leaves and showy flower heads with prickly bracts.
“Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field [...].”
“I wasn’t born of a whistle, or milked from a thistle at twilight / No; I was all horns and thorns, sprung out fully formed, knock-kneed and upright”
This plant seen as the national emblem of Scotland.
An image of this plant used as a charge.
The Order of the Thistle, or membership thereof.
“Here's a passage which will please you: ‘It is said that when rich he twice refused the thistle.’”