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''gladiolus'' ▫ᴱᴺ｜Definition｜1st｜20260125123911-00-⌔

gladiolus - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Noun

gladiolus (plural gladioli or gladioluses)

  • (anatomy) The center part of the sternum.
  • Any of several flowering plants, of the genus Gladiolus, having sword-shaped leaves and showy flowers on spikes; gladiola.
    • ✤ Synonym: sword lily
    • ✤ Hester Earle and Violet Wayne were moving about the aisle with bundles of wheat-ears and streamers of ivy, for the harvest thanksgiving was shortly to be celebrated, while the vicar stood waiting for their directions on the chancel steps with a great handful of crimson gladioli.1

Etymology

Learned borrowing from Latin gladiolus (“little sword, sword lily”), diminutive of gladius (“sword”).2 Compare Middle English gladiol, whence gladiole.

Pronunciation

  • (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ɡlædɪˈəʊləs/
  • (US) IPA: /ɡlædɪˈoʊləs/
  • Audio (US): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -əʊləs

Printed 2026-06-28.

(echo:: @ ⌗)

Footnotes

  1. 1907 January, Harold Bindloss, chapter 20, in The Dust of Conflict, 1st Canadian edition, Toronto, Ont.: McLeod & Allen, →OCLC: ↩

  2. “gladiolus, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, launched 2000. ↩

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