virgin's bower
3
9.9
- noun
- /ˈvɜrdʒɪnz ˈbaʊər/
- US
:
clemátide
- "You take a lock of virgin's hair on any part of her head, and half the age of the woman in travail," said Mary Neff.
- virgin's bower
- Clematis, or virgin's bower
Examples
-
An answer to a virgin's prayers?
Fiction book (1999) -
- And when it comes back... - Clean as a virgin's honey pot, huh?
-
Not sure what the holy virgin's teaching has to do with TOB or how it conflicts in any way.
Blog text (1) -
♫ speak some magic words from a virgin's lips ♫
-
A learned physician told him that only the blood from a virgin's heart could cure him, a virgin who would willingly give up her life for him.
Academic text (2006) -
She saw herself, too, in her muddy virgin's costume, the way she'd stood in the middle of the room trying to look angry and offended.
Fiction book (2001) -
There was a lady from Albany who said the virgin appeared to her in the shape of a potato, but she never could find that particular potato again, and folks had a hard time believing that if what she said was true, she would just up and forget and make potato salad out of the virgin's miracle.
Fiction book (2000) -
She tossed aside her blue virgin's cape, a dowry for the blessed Mother: her red whore's cape for the tears of Mary Magdalene.
Fiction book (1991) -
In my garden, the virgin's bower climbs over the trellis, displaying clusters of creamy white flowers.
-
During spring, the virgin's bower covers the fence with beautiful blooms, attracting many bees and butterflies.
Synonyms
A climbing plant with many small creamy white flowers that grows over other plants
A climbing vine with clusters of small white flowers that grows in eastern North America
Surface Forms
Morphology
virgin's + bower
Bower denotes a leafy shelter or arbour, so a B1 learner who knows both words could infer a plant-related or foliage-related referent; however the possessive 'virgin's' is a conventional part of a folk/common name and does not transparently indicate the specific botanical meaning (a particular climbing plant with creamy flowers). The combination is therefore partially predictable but relies on lexicalized naming conventions, making it only semi-transparent.
Etymology
Virgin's bower comes from a simple image: the climbing plant's thin stems and pale, delicate flowers make a small leafy bower, a 'shelter', and the word virgin suggested something pure and delicate. So the name pictures a vine that climbs over fences and bushes and covers them with soft white flowers.