early wake-robin
- noun
- US
- She found a rare early wake-robin growing along the forest trail in Georgia.
Examples
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The woods were dotted with blooming early wake-robin after the spring rains.
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The early wake-robin blooms in the spring.
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Botanists study the early wake-robin for its unique flowering period.
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Look at that stunning early wake-robin over there!
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The woods were dotted with blooming early wake-robin after the spring rains.
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Botanists study the early wake-robin for its unique flowering period.
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She found a rare early wake-robin growing along the forest trail in Georgia.
Synonyms
1
9.9
A low plant in woods with three white petals that blooms in early spring
1
9.9
A woodland plant with three leaves and one three-petaled flower common in North America
A low plant with white flowers that lives for many years in the southeastern United States
Surface Forms
Morphology
early + wake-robin
This is a vernacular plant name: the element 'wake-robin' is not a productive, compositional combination whose referent (a specific trillium species) can be guessed from the words 'wake' and 'robin'. Although 'early' signals timing, that alone does not allow a B1 learner to infer the botanical meaning (a low perennial with white flowers), so the overall expression is not transparently derivable from its parts.
Etymology
Early wake-robin gets its name from the words wake and robin: it blooms so early in spring that people imagined the flowers 'woke' the returning robins. That's why the name refers to a plant that 'flowers early'.