blue devil
- noun
- /blu ˈdɛvəl/
:
diente de león azul
- Gardeners struggle to remove blue devil due to its tough, prickly stems.
Examples
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Clusters of blue devil appear every summer, adding color to the landscape.
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The blue devil has spread to many fields across the Midwest.
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The blue devil is often found in gardens.
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Have you seen a blue devil in bloom?
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In summer, vibrant clusters of blue devil can be seen blooming in gardens throughout the region.
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Gardeners often find that pulling out blue devil is challenging because of its tough, thorny texture.
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The prickly blue devil has become a familiar sight in many fields and meadows across the U.S.
Synonyms
A rough prickly plant that has spikes of bright blue flowers
A rough, prickly plant from Europe with bright blue flower spikes
A rough, prickly European plant with tall spikes of blue flowers
Surface Forms
Morphology
blue + devil
This is a specialized, lexicalized drug name whose meaning (the sodium salt form of amobarbital) is not compositionally derived from the parts. Even if a learner knows 'blue' (or its slang use for a sedative) and 'devil', 'devil' does not signal the chemical or pharmaceutical sense, so the overall meaning would not be predictable for a B1 learner.
Etymology
Blue devil names a tough, prickly plant with bright blue flower spikes. Gardeners called it 'devilish' because its sharp stems stick and are hard to remove, so the name now means that troublesome, prickly plant.
