columbine

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   any plant of the genus Aquilegia, with showy flowers whose petals or sepals have long backward-pointing spurs

   Wild columbine flowered in the shaded limestone wood.

2. 2
   noun

   usually Columbine: the witty female servant and sweetheart of Harlequin in commedia dell'arte and traditional pantomime

   In the pantomime, Columbine escaped the old man's scheme with Harlequin's help.

3. 3
   adj

   rare: relating to a dove or pigeon, or resembling its coloring

   The antiquarian described the painted bird as having a soft columbine gray.

The plant name comes through Middle English and Old French from Medieval Latin columbina, based on Latin columba, 'dove'; its flowers were traditionally compared with clustered doves. The theatrical Columbine is from Italian Colombina, a diminutive of colomba, 'dove,' and is a related but independently borrowed name.

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