night-blooming cereus
- noun
- /naɪtˈblumɪŋ ˈsɛriəs/
:
cereus nocturno
- Every summer, I eagerly wait for the night-blooming cereus to bloom, knowing its flowers will only last until morning.
Examples
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In my garden, the night-blooming cereus reveals stunning white blossoms each evening, filling the air with a sweet scent.
-
The night-blooming cereus is a fantasy with its huge flower and all those white and gold stamens, curving thick as the breast feathers of a heron.
Academic text (1994) -
The night-blooming cereus opens its large, fragrant flowers as soon as darkness falls, attracting nocturnal pollinators.
Synonyms
1
8.3
A climbing cactus with large fragrant flowers that open at night
1
9.9
A large cactus with a ribbed body, sharp spines, and white flowers that open at night
A tropical climbing cactus with triangular stems and large fragrant flowers that open at night, often grown in gardens
A climbing cactus that grows on other plants and opens large, fragrant flowers at night
A group of cacti with long hanging stems and white flowers that open at night from the Americas
How Fragrant
1
9.9
- Specialized
2
5.2
1
6.8
Surface Forms
Morphology
night-blooming + Cereus
The meaning is directly compositional: 'night-blooming' = 'blooms at night' combined with 'Cereus' = a type of cactus, so the phrase denotes a cactus that flowers at night. This follows a productive English compounding pattern (and similar formations exist in other languages), so a B1 learner who knows the constituents would readily infer the MWE meaning.
Etymology
Night-blooming cereus gets its name from what it does: night-blooming means it 'blooms at night' and cereus is a type of cactus. Because its large, sweet-smelling flowers open only after dark and often fade by morning, the name now refers to a cactus that flowers at night.