Venus's slipper
- noun
:
zapatilla de Venus
- The botanical garden featured a rare Venus's slipper in its orchid collection.
Examples
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Several species within the Venus's slipper group are endangered due to habitat loss.
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I saw a beautiful Venus's slipper in the garden.
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Horticulturists prize the Venus's slipper for its unusual beauty and vibrant colors.
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The Venus's slippers bloom in the spring.
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Horticulturists prize the Venus's slipper for its unusual beauty and vibrant colors.
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The botanical garden featured a rare Venus's slipper in its orchid collection.
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Several species within the Venus's slipper group are endangered due to habitat loss.
Synonyms
1
9.9
An orchid from Southeast Asia with a showy slipper-shaped flower
1
9.2
A wild orchid with a pouch-shaped lower petal that is hard to grow in gardens
A kind of orchid with a pouch-shaped lower petal
An orchid with a pouch-shaped flower like a slipper
Surface Forms
Morphology
Venus's + slipper
Although the phrase literally composes 'Venus' (a proper name) + 'slipper' (a shoe), the listed meaning is a lexicalized common name for certain orchids. A B1 learner who knows the two words would most likely interpret it as a slipper belonging to Venus or a figurative object, and would not predict 'an orchid' from the constituents alone. Because the botanical name is arbitrary and conventional rather than compositional, the expression is not derivable from its parts.
Etymology
Venus's slipper comes from the flower's lower petal that forms a pouch looking like a small slipper, and from Venus, the Roman 'goddess' of 'beauty'. That's why the name points to a lovely orchid with a slipper-shaped flower.