purple osier
- noun
- UK
:
sauce púrpura
- The basket was woven from purple osier harvested in spring.
Examples
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The bark of the purple osier contains tannins useful for traditional crafts.
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Many artisans use purple osiers to create beautiful baskets.
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Gardeners often plant purple osier for its attractive twigs and fast growth.
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The purple osier is known for its flexible branches.
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Gardeners often plant purple osier for its attractive twigs and fast growth.
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The bark of the purple osier contains tannins useful for traditional crafts.
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The basket was woven from purple osier harvested in spring.
Synonyms
1
7.7
A type of willow with reddish stems and flexible branches used for making baskets
A willow that has purple twigs and flexible branches used for basket weaving
A Eurasian willow with red twigs used for making baskets
A tree with reddish-purple twigs used for making baskets and leather
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun is a straightforward modifier–noun combination: 'purple' names a color and 'osier' denotes willow branches used for weaving, so the phrase denotes osier that is purple or has purple twigs. Even though 'osier' is somewhat specialized vocabulary, the compositional pattern is literal and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents would readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Purple osier comes from old craft words: osier was the name for a flexible 'willow' used to make 'baskets', and purple refers to its reddish twigs. So the name means a willow with purple twigs that people weave into baskets.