horn poppy
- noun
- UK
- The sandy dunes were covered in a scattering of horn poppy with their bright yellow blooms.
Examples
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The distinctive seed pods of the horn poppy give the plant its common name.
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Botanists studied the spread of horn poppy along the North American coastline.
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The horn poppy blooms beautifully in the summer.
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I saw a horn poppy growing by the beach.
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The sandy dunes were covered in a scattering of horn poppy with their bright yellow blooms.
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Botanists studied the spread of horn poppy along the North American coastline.
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I saw a horn poppy growing by the beach.
Synonyms
A plant with bright yellow flowers and bluish green leaves that grows on sandy seashores
A plant with bright yellow flowers that grows on sandy coasts
A yellow wild flower that grows on sandy coasts and has horn-shaped seed pods
A small plant with bright yellow flowers that grows on sandy beaches
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a straightforward noun compound in which 'horn' modifies 'poppy', so the phrase denotes a type of poppy with a horn-like or projecting part; a B1 learner who knows both words can infer it refers to a poppy with a horn-shaped feature. The composition is literal and follows common compounding patterns cross-linguistically, making the basic meaning derivable from the constituents.
Etymology
Horn poppy gets its name from the plant's long, curved 'seed pods' that look like a horn and from its bright yellow flowers like a poppy. So, the name points to the plant you find on sandy shores with yellow blooms and horn-shaped seed pods.