bacon and eggs
- noun
- UK
:
bacon y huevos
- Many gardeners appreciate the colorful flowers of the bacon and eggs plant for adding a unique touch to their landscapes.
Examples
-
"I got bacon and eggs and juice," she said, taking the sack.
Fiction book (1991) -
You give us your views, we give you bacon and eggs, plus a couple of thousand-dollar honorarium.
Fiction book (1992) -
In the garden, we spotted vibrant flowers of the bacon and eggs plant, resembling the colors of its namesake dish.
-
The bright yellow and orange blooms of the bacon and eggs plant attract many bees in the spring.
Synonyms
A low, long-lived plant with yellow flowers and claw-shaped seed pods used for farm animal feed
A small plant with yellow flowers and seed pods like a bird's foot often grown for animals to eat
A small European plant with claw-shaped pods that farm animals eat
A European plant grown for animal food with claw-shaped seed pods
Surface Forms
Morphology
This phrase is a naming-by-resemblance: the plant is called 'bacon and eggs' because its flowers' colours/look evoke the food items, so there is a visible link to the constituent words. However the specific referent being a plant (not the food) is not directly derivable from the words alone, so a B1 learner who knows the words would only partially infer the meaning and likely assume the food rather than a botanical species.
Etymology
Bacon and eggs is also the common name for a wild plant because its flowers are bright yellow and orange, like strips of bacon next to eggs. So people call the plant 'bacon and eggs' because its colors remind them of the food.
