agapanthus

See also: Agapanthus

English

Etymology

Possibly from Ancient Greek ἀγάπη (agápē, “love, affection”) + ἄνθος (ánthos, “flower”)

Noun

agapanthus (plural agapanthuses or agapanthi)

Any member of the genus Agapanthus of flowering plants.
- 1881, Christabel Goldsmith [pseudonym; Fannie N. Smith], “The Transcendentalist”, in Peace Pelican, Spinster. A Love Story., New York, N.Y.: G[eorge] W[ashington] Carleton & Co.; London: S[ampson] Low, Son & Co., →OCLC, page 25:
  Agapanthi and hydrangeas bloom on brown-stone front steps, and an occasional elm wears majestically its century of age, and extends its kindly and dignified protection to the emerald-turfed croquet ground nestling at its feet.
- 1887, H[enry] Rider Haggard, “John has an Adventure”, in Jess, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, page 1:
  Even the succulent blue lilies—a variety of the agapanthus which is so familiar to us in English greenhouses—hung their long trumpet-shaped flowers and looked oppressed and miserable, beneath the burning breath of the hot wind which had been blowing for hours like the draught from a volcano.
- 1948, Alan Paton, chapter 3, in Cry, the Beloved Country‎^[1], New York: Scribner, page 11:
  Here in their season grow the blue agapanthus, the wild watsonia, and the red-hot poker, and now and then it happens that one may glimpse an arum in a dell.
- 1995, Odysseas Elytis, translated by Olga Broumas and T. Begley, “Chronicle of a Decade”, in Open Papers: Selected Essays, Port Townsend, Wash.: Copper Canyon Press, →ISBN, page 117:
  Seferis, who was just back from Africa after years abroad, seemed to gaze at us between the agapanthi and jacarandas.
- 1997, Katherine Vaz, part IV, in Mariana, London: Flamingo, HarperCollinsPublishers, →ISBN, page 272:
  Peregrina chatted with animation about the flowers she would sow around it, azaleas, lilies, agapanthi, and the vegetables she could plant in the open spaces, and enough garlic to make the earth smell like broth.

Hyponyms

(genus Agapanthus): African lily (some species), lily of the Nile (some species)

Translations

any member of the genus Agapanthus of flowering plants

Chinese: 百子蓮 / 百子莲 (zh)
Greek: αγάπανθος (el) m (agápanthos)
Italian: agapanto m
Portuguese: agapanto (pt) m
Spanish: agapanto (es) m