Laurel
['lɒr(ə)l] or ['lɔrəl]
Definition
(noun.) (antiquity) a wreath of laurel foliage worn on the head as an emblem of victory.
(noun.) United States slapstick comedian (born in England) who played the scatterbrained and often tearful member of the Laurel and Hardy duo who made many films (1890-1965).
(noun.) any of various aromatic trees of the laurel family.
Checker: Phelps--From WordNet
Definition
(n.) An evergreen shrub, of the genus Laurus (L. nobilis), having aromatic leaves of a lanceolate shape, with clusters of small, yellowish white flowers in their axils; -- called also sweet bay.
(n.) A crown of laurel; hence, honor; distinction; fame; -- especially in the plural; as, to win laurels.
(n.) An English gold coin made in 1619, and so called because the king's head on it was crowned with laurel.
Typed by Frank
Definition
n. the bay-tree used by the ancients for making honorary wreaths: a crown of laurel honours gained (freq. in pl.): any species of the genus Laurus.—adjs. Lau′rel; Lau′relled crowned with laurel.—n. Lau′rel-wa′ter a sedative and narcotic water distilled from the leaves of the cherry-laurel.—adjs. Laurif′erous producing laurel; Lau′riger laurel-wearing.—n Laurustī′nus an evergreen shrub.
Editor: Spence
Unserious Contents or Definition
Dreaming of the laurel, brings success and fame. You will acquire new possessions in love. Enterprises will be laden with gain. For a young woman to wreath laurel about her lover's head, denotes that she will have a faithful man, and one of fame to woo her.
Checker: Lowell
Unserious Contents or Definition
n. The laurus a vegetable dedicated to Apollo and formerly defoliated to wreathe the brows of victors and such poets as had influence at court. (Vide supra.)
Typed by Bernadine
Examples
- This place, Deep Dene House, is a big modern villa of staring brick, standing back in its own grounds, with a laurel-clumped lawn in front of it. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- Here are their marks on the left--here, beside the laurel bushes. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
- A mass of shrubs, full-leaved evergreens, laurel and dense yewintervened between me and what I followed. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- Descending the laurel walk, I faced the wreck of the chestnut-tree; it stood up black and riven: the trunk, split down the centre, gasped ghastly. Charlotte Bronte. Jane Eyre.
- Moisten the leaves with a solution of the opium extract in the cherry-laurel water. William K. David. Secrets of Wise Men, Chemists and Great Physicians.
- As of yore, the laurel wreath. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- Laurel crowns cure no aching head, but the gentle kiss of a loved wife in time of trouble is indeed balm in Gilead. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- The garden sloping to the road, the house standing in it, the green pales, and the laurel hedge, everything declared they were arriving. Jane Austen. Pride and Prejudice.
- I was not angry on my own account, but I felt as if the praises which this idol received were leaves torn from laurels destined for Adrian. Mary Shelley. The Last Man.
- A wreath of artificial laurels, for, indeed, your song is but worthy of such. Fergus Hume. The Island of Fantasy.
- The Professor conquered, but I cannot say that the laurels of this victory shadowed gracefully his temples. Charlotte Bronte. Villette.
- The song was considered a great success, and the singer retired covered with laurels. Louisa May Alcott. Little Women.
- My uncle's gardener always says the soil here is better than his own, and so it appears from the growth of the laurels and evergreens in general. Jane Austen. Mansfield Park.
- Are his laurels straight? H. G. Wells. The Outline of History_Being a Plain History of Life and Mankind.
- Nor was Podder behindhand in earning laurels wherewith to garnish himself and Muggleton. Charles Dickens. The Pickwick Papers.
- Through the gate--now to the right among the laurels. Arthur Conan Doyle. The Return of Sherlock Holmes.
Typist: Nelly