prairie rocket
- noun
- /ˈprɛəri ˈrɒkɪt/
- US
:
cohete de pradera
- Gardeners admire the bright yellow flowers of the prairie rocket.
Examples
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The prairie rocket blooms in the early spring across the western plains.
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Hikers spotted patches of prairie rocket along the trail in Colorado.
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The prairie rocket blooms beautifully in the summer.
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I saw a prairie rocket while hiking in Montana.
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Gardeners admire the bright yellow flowers of the prairie rocket.
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Hikers spotted patches of prairie rocket along the trail in Colorado.
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The prairie rocket blooms in the early spring across the western plains.
Synonyms
A plant that lives two or three years with bright orange yellow flowers in western North America
A plant with orange-yellow flowers that grows in prairies in parts of North America
A wildflower with orange-yellow flowers that grows in North American prairies
How Colorful
- US
- US
Surface Forms
Morphology
This is a straightforward noun–noun compound where the meaning ‘a rocket (plant) associated with the prairie’ is directly built from 'prairie' + 'rocket'. Given the provided constituent definitions, the referent (a prairie-dwelling plant) is compositionally predictable, so a B1 learner who knows both words will very likely infer the meaning (context would disambiguate the non-plant sense of 'rocket').
Etymology
Prairie rocket may come from how the plant looks on open grassland: a tall, straight stem with a bright yellow flower that seems to 'shoot up' like a little rocket from the prairie. So this image helps explain why the name is used for the yellow 'plant' today.
