elegant cat's ears
- noun
- Specialized
:
orejas de gato elegantes
- The elegant cat's ears is known for its delicate, white, star-shaped flowers.
Examples
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In the meadows, she found an elegant cat's ears blooming among the grasses.
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Botanists surveyed the site and recorded several patches of elegant cat's ears during spring.
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Look at that elegant cat's ears!
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The elegant cat's ears bloomed beautifully in the garden.
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In the meadows, she found an elegant cat's ears blooming among the grasses.
-
Botanists surveyed the site and recorded several patches of elegant cat's ears during spring.
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The elegant cat's ears is known for its delicate, white, star-shaped flowers.
Synonyms
A small wild flower in the northwest United States with thin curved stems and white star-shaped blooms
A small wild plant with white star-shaped flowers
Surface Forms
Morphology
elegant + cat's + ears
The phrase is partly compositional: 'elegant' is straightforward and 'cat's ears' evokes the image of something shaped like a cat's ears, so a learner could infer a resemblance. However, the specific sense 'a small plant with slender, bent stems and clusters of white, star-shaped flowers' is a lexicalized name for a plant and not fully predictable from the parts, so full meaning requires prior exposure.
Etymology
The plant name elegant cat's ears may come from the flower's shape: each small white bloom has two pointed petals that look like cat's ears on a thin stem. The word 'elegant' shows the plant's delicate look, so the name paints a clear picture and helps people remember the plant.
