poppy
/ˈpɑpi/
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.59 in modern English
Meaning
noun
Any plant of the genus Papaver or the family Papaveraceae, with crumpled, often red, petals and a milky juice having narcotic properties; especially a common poppy or corn poppy (Papaver rhoeas) which has orange-red flowers; the flower of such a plant.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A bright red colour tinted with orange, like that of the common poppy flower.
Countable; Uncountable
noun
A simple artificial poppy flower worn in a buttonhole or displayed in other contexts to remember those who died in the two World Wars and other armed conflicts, especially around Remembrance Day/Remembrance Sunday.
Australian usage; Canadian usage; British usage; Countable; Uncountable
adj
Of a bright red colour tinted with orange, like that of the common poppy flower (Papaver rhoeas).
Example Sentences
- "In Flanders fields the poppies blow / Between the crosses, row on row, / That mark our place; […] / If ye break faith with us who die / We shall not sleep, though poppies grow / In Flanders fields."
- "We cherish, too, the poppy red / That grows on fields where valor led; / It seems to signal to the skies / That blood of heroes never dies, / […] / And now the torch and poppy red / We wear in honor of our dead. / Fear not that ye have died for naught; / We've learned the lesson that ye taught / In Flanders fields."
- "Troops from the garrison town formed a guard of honour for both sets of players, who emerged for the national anthem with poppies proudly stitched into their tracksuit jackets."
- "I thought Sparks were great; they were very poppy for Island Records. They were considered an oddity but you have to remember that at the time Roxy Music, now everyone's seminal band, were seen as very poppy."
- ""It is a very pretty name, Mma. I should like to be called Poppy." The compliment drew a smile. "I used to be very embarrassed about it," said Poppy. "I used to try to hide my name from people. I thought it was a very silly name." Mma Ramotswe shook her head. There was nothing embarrassing about the name Poppy, but there was no telling what names people would find embarrassing."
- "My grandfather, whom we all call "Poppy", loves children and enjoys imparting his knowledge of aspects to them. ... Cell phones were not invented at the time, however, so I could not contact Poppy to help me end the hiccups."
Etymology
Origin
Word Breakdown
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈpɑpi/
- British English: /ˈpɒpi/
Usage
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in People.