paper flower
1
4.4
- noun
:
flor de papel
- The children made beautiful paper flowers to decorate their classroom for spring.
Examples
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The garden was vibrant with the colors of paper flowers that bloomed under the tropical sun.
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Her hair, long and thick and newly dyed for the occasion, would be swept upward and forward in a billowy mass that was topped by a corsage of yellow and coral paper flowers.
Fiction book (1996) -
My mind nearly always returns to the image of that girl among the paper flowers.
Fiction book (1996) -
Those are paper flowers the orphans sell.
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And always, too, there was the profusion of paper flowers.
Fiction book (1996) -
After a little bit, the boy saw her get up again and lean across a table to arrange some paper flowers in a vase.
Fiction book (1996) -
And it is the image of Emily Meriwether standing among the paper flowers that tantalizes me whenever I think of or hear someone speak of that evening.
Fiction book (1996) -
The guests at their little dancing parties were the thirteen- and fourteen-year-olds from families like the one they had long ago set themselves against, young people from the very houses to which, in season, they delivered their figs and their paper flowers.
Fiction book (1996) -
Ned Meriwether, standing on the bottom step of the stairway, lifted his eyes and looked over the heads of the party to see Tom and Emily half hidden in a bower of paper flowers and caught directly in a ray of mauve light.
Fiction book (1996) -
During the festival, the streets were adorned with paper flowers that added a festive atmosphere.
Synonyms
2
9.4
A woody climbing plant from South America with bright, colorful flower parts
A woody climbing plant with bright paper-like flowers that blooms most of the year
Surface Forms
Morphology
The noun phrase 'paper flower' transparently combines 'paper' (paper-like) and 'flower' to indicate a flower with paper-like appearance or qualities; a B1 learner who knows both words can infer this basic meaning. Although the specific botanical identity (Bougainvillea) is specialized knowledge, the compound itself is compositional and follows common adjective+noun naming patterns.
Etymology
Paper flower gets its name because the plant has bright, thin outer leaves that look like pieces of paper wrapped around tiny real flowers. That's why the name helps you remember it is a colorful plant people grow for 'decoration'.