bachelor's button
- noun
- /ˈbætʃələrz ˈbʌtən/
:
aciano
- Look at that bachelor's button!
Examples
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The field was full of wildflowers, especially bright blue bachelor's button.
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A bouquet of bachelor's buttons added a splash of color to the kitchen table.
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She grew pink and white bachelor's buttons in her garden every summer.
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I love bachelor's buttons!
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In the garden, the bright bachelor's button flowers attract many butterflies and bees.
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She planted bachelor's buttons alongside daisies and marigolds for a colorful summer display.
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The florist used bachelor's buttons in the bouquet for their striking blue petals.
Synonyms
4
3.4
A small plant with bright blue flowers often grown in gardens
A plant with bright blue, pink, purple, or white flowers often grown in gardens and known as cornflower
A garden plant with bright blue, purple, pink, or white flowers
Surface Forms
Morphology
bachelor's + button
Knowing 'button' as a small, budlike object would let a learner guess the phrase refers to a button-shaped flower or plant, but the possessive 'bachelor's' gives no clear semantic clue to the species or the full meaning (cornflower, an annual Eurasian plant). The name is a conventional folk plant name whose specific referent is not predictable from the parts, so the relation is only partially transparent.
Etymology
Bachelor's button for the cornflower comes from an old courting custom: young men, called bachelors, would wear the bright flower like a button in their coat to show they were 'single' or in love. That's why people began to call this showy garden flower a 'bachelor's button'.