humming bird's trumpet
- noun
- /ˈhʌmɪŋ bɜrdz ˈtrʌmpɪt/
- US
- Many gardeners plant humming bird's trumpet to attract wildlife, especially hummingbirds.
Examples
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The humming bird's trumpet adds a vivid splash of red to her southwestern garden.
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The humming bird's trumpet blooms beautifully in spring.
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Botanists appreciate the resilience of humming bird's trumpet in arid climates.
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I planted a humming bird's trumpet in my garden.
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Many gardeners plant humming bird's trumpet to attract wildlife, especially hummingbirds.
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The humming bird's trumpet adds a vivid splash of red to her southwestern garden.
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Botanists appreciate the resilience of humming bird's trumpet in arid climates.
Synonyms
A small California plant with bright red tube-shaped flowers that attract hummingbirds
A small shrub with bright red, tube-shaped flowers that attract hummingbirds
A shrub from the southwestern United States and Mexico with bright scarlet flowers
Surface Forms
Morphology
humming + bird's + trumpet
The constituents 'humming' + 'bird's' + 'trumpet' transparently suggest something associated with hummingbirds and shaped like a trumpet (a common metaphor for tubular flowers), so a learner could infer a hummingbird-related object or flower. However, identifying this exact phrase as a particular shrub with scarlet flowers is botanical, culture-specific knowledge beyond simple composition, so the meaning is only partly predictable from the parts.
Etymology
Humming bird's trumpet comes from the plant's bright, trumpet-shaped flowers that a humming bird puts its long beak into to drink nectar. So the name means 'a shrub that attracts hummingbirds'.