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''lily'' ▫ᴱᴺ Entries

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

lily - Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Noun

lily (plural lilies)

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  • Any of several flowers in the genus Lilium of the family Liliaceae, which includes a great many ornamental species.
    • ✤ The engagement photos were set in a leafy bower festooned with pink and white roses, anemones, lilies and delphinium, like something straight out of an enchanted garden.1
  • Any of several species of herbaceous flower which may or may not resemble the genus Lilium in some way, and which are not closely related to it or each other.
  • (heraldry) The flower used as a heraldic charge; also commonly used to describe the fleur-de-lis.
  • The end of a compass needle that should point north, traditionally often ornamented with the figure of a lily or fleur-de-lis.
    • ✤ But sailing further, it veers its lily to the west.2
  • (card games, usually in the plural) A royal spade in auction bridge.
  • (cartomancy) The thirtieth Lenormand card, representing calmness and maturity.

Adjective

lily (not comparable)

  • (slang, derogatory) White (as a racial epithet).
    • ✤ “Can’t you see I’m trying to save your lily ass?” “I don’t want to be saved,” Tess moaned as he hauled her up and into his lap with one beefy hand.3

Etymology

From Middle English lilie, from Old English lilie, from Latin līlia, plural of līlium, from Ancient Greek λείριον (leírion). See there for more.

Pronunciation

  • IPA: /ˈlɪli/
  • Audio (US): 🔊
  • Rhymes: -ɪli

Printed 2026-06-28.

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Footnotes

  1. 2025 August 27, Vanessa Friedman, “The Ralph Lauren Look of Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Engagement Photos”, in The New York Times ‎, New York, N.Y.: The New York Times Company, →ISSN, →OCLC, archived from the original on 27 August 2025: ↩

  2. 1646, Thomas Browne, Pseudodoxia Epidemica: ↩

  3. 1994, Colleen Faulkner, Captive: ↩

Link to original

Secondary

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