mock orange
- noun
- /mɑk ˈɔrɪndʒ/
:
naranjo falso
- Many gardeners choose mock orange for its lovely fragrance and easy maintenance as an ornamental plant.
- lilacs and mock orange
Examples
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We've got the mock orange and these are supposed to be the smaller variety.
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Nora says, dragging a wet brush over the tips of leaves on the mock orange, marking it for demolition.
Fiction book (1992) -
If you're mostly an outdoor gardener, you probably think of one of the Philadelphus spp. when you hear the name "mock orange."
Blog text (15) -
The garden was filled with the sweet scent of blooming mock orange flowers, attracting many bees.
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In the spring, the mock orange shrub bursts into fragrant white flowers that beautify any landscape.
Synonyms
A shrub with fragrant white flowers often called mock orange
A large garden shrub with strong, sweet white flowers
How Fragrant
Surface Forms
Morphology
mock + orange
The adjective 'mock' (imitation) combined with 'orange' gives a learner a reasonable clue that the phrase denotes something resembling or imitating an orange (e.g., orange-like flowers or scent), so part of the meaning is recoverable. However, the precise botanical sense — that it is a specific shrub with fragrant white flowers grown ornamentally — is not fully predictable from the parts, making the expression only partially transparent to a B1 learner.
Etymology
Mock orange gets its name from its white, very sweet flowers that smell like real orange blossoms even though the plant is not an orange tree. So the word mock here means 'false' or 'lookalike', and the name shows the shrub is like an orange blossom by scent.