thistle

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See also: Thistle

English

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English Wikipedia has an article on:
Wikipedia

Etymology

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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 Icelandic þistill.

Pronunciation

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  • IPA(key): /θɪsl̩/
  • Audio (US):(file)
  • Rhymes: -ɪsəl

Noun

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thistle (plural thistles)

  1. Any of several perennial composite plants, especially of genera Cirsium, Carduus, Cynara, or Onopordum, having prickly leaves and showy flower heads with prickly bracts.
    • 1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 3:18:
      Thorns also and thistles shall it bring forth to thee; and thou shalt eat the herb of the field [...].
    • 2006, Joanna Newsom (lyrics and music), “Sawdust and Diamonds”, in Ys‎[1]:
      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
  2. This plant seen as the national emblem of Scotland.
  3. (heraldry) This plant used as a charge.
  4. The Order of the Thistle, or membership thereof.
    • 1978, Lawrence Durrell, Livia (Avignon Quintet), Faber & Faber, published 1992, page 324:
      Here's a passage which will please you: ‘It is said that when rich he twice refused the thistle.’

Derived terms

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Translations

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References

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Anagrams

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