LILAC • FREE TRANSLATOR.ORG • Definition of Lilac

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/lˈaɪlˌæk/ Listen

noun

Lilac n. (Also lilach)

(Bot.) A shrub of the genus Syringa. There are six species, natives of Europe and Asia. Syringa vulgaris, the common lilac, and Syringa Persica, the Persian lilac, are frequently cultivated for the fragrance and beauty of their purplish or white flowers. In the British colonies various other shrubs have this name.

A light purplish color like that of the flower of the purplish lilac.

California lilac (Bot.), a low shrub with dense clusters of purplish flowers (Ceanothus thyrsiflorus).

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Etymology of 'Lilac'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Lilac" Quotes from Famous Books

... precincts were fairly left behind, and they got into the pleasant old walled-in garden, where the yellow afternoon's sun was lying on the opening fruit-blossom, and bringing delicious scents out of the newly-blown lilac and hawthorn. She kept pulling Geordie's corduroys, to draw his attention to all that captivated her as they walked along the broad gravel walk. This was certainly a much pleasanter way home than along ...

— Geordie's Tryst - A Tale of Scottish Life • Mrs. Milne Rae

... to the house, passing under the leafless lilac bushes with a keen remembrance of how they were laden with odors in June. He wondered if the tansy still grew under the sitting-room window, and if the lilies-of-the-valley flourished on the north side of the house as of old. Then he knocked with the ...

— The Puritans • Arlo Bates

... in the resurrection of the superlative beauties of spring, we forgot our human deficiencies. In the first week of lilacs, the Americanised flower of Persia, we aspired to the breadth and height and the heaven of our gardens. The generous lilac, like a great purple sea of loveliness, swept over us in the full tide of spring. It was the forerunner of joy; joy of fish in the brooks, of insects in the air, of cattle in the fields, of wings to the sky. Sunshine, shaken from the sacred robes of God! Spring, the spiritual essence ...

— T. De Witt Talmage - As I Knew Him • T. De Witt Talmage

... over a lilac with yellow spots, while I pulled out a quiet sage-green that had faded into insignificance under the more brilliant colours, but which was nevertheless a good silk in its humble way. Our attention was called off to our neighbour. ...

— Cranford • Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell

... paused also, as though held by the power of his will. They were passing along the public garden that borders the road; scents of lilac and fresh leaf floated over the damp grass; the moonlight was growing in strength, and the majesty of the gorge, the roar of the leaping water all seemed to enter into the moral and human scene, ...

— Marriage a la mode • Mrs. Humphry Ward

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